Hunter
by Sudden Real
Summary: A man washes up on the shore of a deserted island with no memory of his past life. The only ones who know it, are the ones that want to capture him...Rated R for language, sarcasm and stuff commonly known as life...
1. Awakenings

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval. Now please enjoy your stay on the S.S. Anne, and please, ignore the huge storm approaching.

!Chapter 1 – Awakenings

!

I felt miserable. I don't know where I was, but I already knew I hated it. I felt cold, wet, tired and hurt. I was lying on what seemed to be pebbles and it was dark. That was because my eyes were closed. I tried to open them, but I slipped back into the dark realm I had spend lying here. Right before I passed out again, I felt water around my legs...  
  
I woke up again because something was pulling me on my chest. I tried to open my eyes again and this time I succeeded. I glanced down, and saw a black wire twitching from my pocket of my jacket. I followed it and saw a turtle like being listening to the headphones attached to it. Squirtle, said my subconsiousness. He was listening to my music and enjoying it apparently. I tried to remember what that music was. I failed. I tried to get up and startled it. He jumped back, but came to help me. I got up and looked around where I was. It was an empty beach with pebbles instead of sand, not to mention cold, but this probably was because I was soaking wet. So I must have come out of the ocean. How did I get here, or there? I had no idea. The Squirtle grabbed the headphones again so I reached in my pocket and took out the discman inside. It was waterproof. He took the thing out of my hands with a joyful cry and sat down while I continued to explore my surroundings. There seemed to be some wooden boards and a broken life-belt. I could still make out S.S. A on it. Okay, I was in a shipwreck. But why did I have a waterproof discman on a boat? Was I anticipating the shipwreck, or did it have a pool on board? Yeah, right! Anyway, I had survived, so I would better let someone know I was alive, like my family. If only I could remember who they were. Or who I was...  
  
Maybe I should check my possessions to learn more about me, instead of looking around. I had a short leather jacket with only my discman in my inside pocket. My wallet was completely drained and useless, all papers inside were turned into a mushy goo. I found a set of keys in my pockets, nothing more. I took of my jacket and looked on the inside. Nothing that could tell me who I was. Fuck. I tried my wallet again to see if there wasn't a credit card or anything plastic in it but all I found was a small plastic card written on with black marker.  
  
TONY MEET ME AT 7 AT DECK 5  
  
That made me either Tony or the guy that wanted to meet Tony at 7. Since 'the guy that wanted to meet Tony at 7' was a bit too long as introduction, I became Tony. Now I knew who I was, but not where I was. I only knew it was fucking cold. I only had a black T-shirt on under my jacket and it was soaked. I took it off and putted the top in my pants, so it formed something of half a kilt. I looked back at the squirtle who was still listening to my CD. I grabbed the discman. He protested but I held the discman up high. "Listen! I want to get off of this island. Can you help me? Then you can listen again." Great, now I was talking to a Squirtle. I was loosing it. Surprisingly it pointed inlands. Okay, now we were getting somewhere. "Lead on, little dude." I said and he ran off over the pebbles and rocks. I followed him, thanking God I had combat boots on (without steel tips of course, or I wouldn't be able to tell you all this right now) and opened the discman, curious what was inside that the little fellow liked so much. The CD was almost completely white with the word Left printed on it. And if there was a left, then there was a right, so I had to purchase the CD again. Great. I listened to it for a while and could understand why he liked it so much. My subconsciousness helped me again. Nine Inch Nails. Stranded on a deserted island with a discman and Nine Inch Nails. What more can you ask for? More CD's? Definitely. But then the music stopped. A quick check showed me that the batteries were dead. Fuck. The Squirtle turned around to see what took me this long and continued on. He was gonna be pissed when he learned there was no more music. I knew I was.

!

We passed several Squirtles and Wartortles on the way who looked at us with amusement and curiousity. Suddenly a big seal jumped up from behind a rock. Dewgong my mind said. The Squirtle never stopped in his track and a burst of water left his mouth. The Dewgong was thrown back and quickly we passed it. "Quite a blast, dude." The Squirtle let out a cheering sound. We passed the rest of the trip without any further incidents and ended at the other side of the island. And that's what depressed me. Several more islands, like this one, were displayed there, one after the other identically the same. Fuck. The Squirtle pulled my pants. "The batteries are dead, little guy, I have no more music." I apologised. He kicked my leg and pointed to the other islands. "I know you brought me here, but I can't get any other batteries from there. If I could get into civilisation." He kicked my leg again and sat down, moping. "Fuck this shit, man," I said and thought for a few moments, "ah, what the hell, staying here or swimming on, we'll never reach civilisation and we'll die a horrible death instead. Let's swim for it, what do you say, dude?" The Squirtle jumped up and grabbed my pants, pulling me closer to the water. "Hold on, dude, let me get my shoes off first. You know, you are a blast. How about I call you Blaster?" The Squirtle cheered on and jumped into the ocean. "Can't we get something to eat first?"  
  
I threw the eaten Magikarp back into the ocean. I was hungry but raw fish wasn't quite what I had in mind. Blaster looked up to me from behind his fish. I sighed and got up. "Ready to get on our way?" The Squirtle jumped up and produced an amused sound. I took off my combat boots, tied them together and hung them around my neck. I took of my pants, tied a knot in the legs and trapped air in it by pushing it on the water waist first. That must have been something I picked up at some life-saving class or something. Anyway, I started swimming on my improvised airbubble and followed the little Squirtle. A sound made me look behind. Another Squirtle, one a bit darker shade of blue, ran towards us and jumped in the ocean. "Friend of yours?" I asked. Blaster let out some sounds and the other Squirtle dove under and brought up a Magikarp which he presented to me. "Okay, you can come too." I sighed. So our company consisted of three now. I didn't think much of it, but then again, I didn't think much of anything at the time since I felt like I was freezing to the bone. And that fucking island didn't get any closer.

!

After several hours I looked back and saw the first island was about as far away as the island we were headed. Great, we were halfway and I was already tired and hungry. The Squirtles seemed to be fine, maybe if I had eaten more of that Magikarp. Well, no remorse now. I had to survive and stay awake. Not drift away, but stay focused, stay focu...WOW, what the fuck was that? Something had a hold of my legs and were pulling me under. "Guys? A little help?" The second Squirtle dove down and the grip on my legs ended. An enraged Tentacool came up with the Squirtle firmly attached to his arms. Once again the little guy sunk his teeth in the arm he was holding. Blaster swam right at the Tentacool and rammed him. The Tentacool started sinking and I tried as hell to get away from there. The water behind me came up again and I expected to see the Tentacool again, but no, this motherfucker was bigger. It was a damn Tentacruel. I looked for Blaster and the other Squirtle but saw only Blaster, trying to get away from his arms. Suddenly the Tentacruel shook and let go of Blaster. The other Squirtle had gotten on his head and was banging his paws into it. The arms of the Tentacruel were slowly rising. "Blaster, get me a Magikarp." I yelled. The little fellow got down and quickly fetched me two Magikarp. I threw one of them to the Tentacruel to distract him. That worked. Damn, Blaster tried his watergun but it didn't even made the Tentacruel blink. The little Squirtle got of his head again and grabbed on of his arms. He dove under and resurfaced a bit further still holding the arm. The Tentacruel was squirming to get his arm free and suddenly the Squirtle let go. The arm flew away and hit a nearby Seel. Obviously he was pissed and rammed the Tentacruel. The Tentacruel wrapped his arms around the Seel and forgot about us. Quickly we turned and swam as fast as we could with renewed strength to the island. Blaster began swimming left of me and the other Squirtle right of me. "That was nice, dude," the Squirtle let out a cry of fun, "you're a little warmonger aren't you? I think I'll call you War." Both of them let out a sound of joy and we swam on, not looking back at the fighting Tentacruel and Seel.  
  
It was dark when we finally landed. I was soaking wet and it was cold. I felt like I was burning up inside. I couldn't take this much more. I had to reach civilisation or I was done for. I couldn't stay here, just eating Magikarp. If it were a nice island, maybe, but not this pile of rocks. I wanted to fall down and never get up again, but Blaster and War pushed me onwards. I crawled up to a huge rock and fell down. I suddenly realised Blaster and War had stayed behind. Why? A sound made me look up and saw the rock move. It wasn't a rock. A huge blue bird stood before me and spread his wings. Fuck that was one big bird. I had no idea what kind of Pokémon this was, I didn't even know there were birds this size. Something in the back of my head said "shame on you, you should know there are five of them." I felt him grab me with one claw and saw Blaster and War jump up the other paw to help me. Then it turned black...

!

AN: This story was thrown off because of some miscalculations of mine, but I'm reposting it (rated R this time) with some minor changes (merging chapters for one). Don't expect to see drastic changes but I've tried to give the two Rockets some more dept this time since... well, you'll see... 


	2. Professional pokémon hunter

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

!

Chapter 2 – Professional pokémon hunter

!

I regained consciousness when I hit the ground. I heard two thuds next to me. When I heard nothing more I dared to open my eyes to see where I was. Blaster and War were getting up, looking around to see if I was safe and then looked up. I followed their gaze and saw the giant bird return to his island. I looked around and found myself sitting on grass. A bit further there was a small signpost in the ground. And where there were signposts, there was civilisation. I was saved.

"We made it, guys, we did it!"

Blaster came up to me and took out my discman.

"I know, but first let's find some houses," I looked down, "and some clothes."

My combat boots were still tied around my neck, but apparently I had dropped my lifeguard/pants when I hit the shore. Loud noises from War made me look up. Triumphantly he was holding up my pants.

"Thanks War!" I started to untie my pants and laid them down to dry. It was getting late and I might as well get some sleep. Blaster and War caught some Magikarp to eat.

!

The next morning I got up totally refreshed, woke Blaster and War and we started to follow the big river next to our resting place. About two hours later (with nothing much to eat, not even a Rattata) I arrived in a little town. On the right there was a huge field with a lot of different Pokémon. THAT was interesting. Some old geezer was feeding a bunch of Tauri when I approached the fence.

"Hey!"

He looked up and smiled a broad smile.

"Hello there, how are you doing?"

"Better than yesterday I'd say. You couldn't tell me where this is?"

"This is Pallet town," he said, "how come you don't know?"

"I got stranded on one of the islands in the ocean and was saved by these two guys," War and Blaster stood up straight, "we made our way to another island but then were transported by a huge blue bird and dropped a few miles from here on the shore."

"A huge blue bird?" he exclaimed, "you mean an Articuno?"

"If there aren't any other huge blue birds, yes."

"Can you tell me everything about it?"

"Everything I witnessed, yes, but only if you'll tell me what I want to know."

"Of course," the man said, "I'll even let you freshen up and give you other clothes."

About fifteen minutes later I was in a hot bath that I didn't plan on leaving for at least an hour. In fact, I stayed in the bath for two hours, you can not believe how good a hot tub feels after you've been soaked in freezing cold water. I went downstairs in the brown pants and red shirt the man left me. It wasn't really my style, but hey, the shirt sorta fitted, so I was planning on taking it. The man was waiting for me in his laboratory that had all pictures of pokémon on the walls.

"Ah, you're ready." He said when he saw me.

"I'm still a bit hungry, but I'll tell you all I know."

He quickly made me a small lunch that I ate even quicker. I then started telling him my story and tried to recall as much of the Articuno as I could. He eagerly took notes in a laptop and was very grateful.

"Oh, I wish you could tell me more," he said, "pokémon are my life."

"I figured that much," I responded, "when I saw all those pokémon outside, you have a lot of them."

"Hm? Oh, those aren't mine, I just take care of them."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Ever since the pokémon could be stored via a digital link to a computer, people are restricted to maximum six pokémon to carry. The rest is transported to pokéservers. One of these servers is located here so all pokémon caught by the trainers who's pokédex originates here, are sent here, so I can take care of them."

"So," I thought for a moment, "if you were one of these pokémon hunters…"

"Trainers." He corrected.

"Trainers, thank you, you could, in fact have more than six pokémon running around."

"In theory, yes," he said, "but only if I stayed here."

"How can you set up one of these servers?"

"You would have to ask one at the pokéleague, but first you would need space enough to house them."

"Can I issue those pokédex's as well?"

"Yes, but no one may have more than one pokédex."

"Why not?"

"If you had more than one pokédex, you would be able to carry more than six pokémon, and that's illegal."

"And if you were to hunt pokémon?"

"Hunt them?"

"Catch pokémon for somebody else."

"Why would anyone do that?"

"I've heard of trading pokémon, so I would catch pokémon, trade them or sell them."

"You can't do that!" he shouted.

"Then you won't have your Articuno." I replied calmly.

He looked at me in disbelief and remained silent for a few minutes.

"I don't follow."

"Give me a pokédex, and a proxi account. Then I'll go search for all pokémon, common and rare, and every pokémon you want I will search for you, on the condition I can keep the first one of the species I capture."

"But I can have the data?"

"You can, and after a while, I will set up my own pokéserver and I'll be out of your hair."

"No," he said quickly, "remain here, just send me all the data you can get, I don't need any pokémon for myself."

"Very well." I nodded.

"But I can only give you one pokédex, I will however ask the pokéleague if I can give you an extra account for hunting pokémon for someone else, but I can't promise you anything."

"I'll be glad with anything you can get me."

The man nodded and held out his hand.

"Very well, I will give you a pokédex and six pokéballs. I don't even know your name yet."

"Tony Hunter." I said as I shook his hand.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm professor Oak."

!

Oak had given me besides the pokédex and the pokéballs a map of Kanto. As far as I could remember I was from Kanto, so maybe sooner or later I would run into someone I knew. Oak had tried to search the ship I came from. There were three ships at sea during my "accident" that started with an A, the SS Anna, the SS Atoma and the SS Aqua, but none was reported lost. One of those three could lead me to information about myself. Two of them were from Vermillion and the SS Atoma was from Fushia. I had decided to stop at both towns and see if I knew anyone there. Hopefully they wouldn't stop me from my newfound profession of pokémon hunter. Strange, most kids wanted to become pokémon masters (Oak told me several kids from Pallet town went out into the world to become pokémon master) but I was (again, as far as I could remember) about 20, so my goals were a bit more profitable, so to speak. Too old to be a  trainer, too young to be a master, Oak had said. Either way, if someone challenged me, I had to be careful since everyone was a potential master. I really think they should put age restrictions on pokémon, but this on a side note. I gave Blaster and War both a pokéball and wrote their names on it in black marker. I decided to get on the move. It felt great to be in my black clothes again (although I kept the red shirt) and had my pokéballs under my leather jacket. Oak told me to earn money in pokémon fights so I had to start training Blaster and War. He had told me of the league badges. I had no interest of entering the league, but earning those badges would give me more freedom to roam the world and gain more pokémon. Hm, hear me talking, gain more pokémon. I have two, for crying out loud. I should first start to look for four others and then get some money for more pokéballs. While I crossed the grasslands to Viridian I saw a Rattata jump out. A quick motion from the wrist resulted in Blaster jumping out and quickly tackling the little rat. The Rattata jumped up and bit Blaster. The little dude squirted water at the Rattata and while the Rattata dodged it, Blaster kicked him in the face. I threw a pokéball and caught the little guy.

"Our first real catch," I said to Blaster, "what should we call him."

Blaster kicked me and took out the discman.

"When I have money, I'll buy batteries, I promise."

I thought of putting him back in his pokéball, but then let out War as well. They both sat in front of me, looking at me expectingly.

"Go fight some Rattata's," I said, "I'll think of a name."

The Rattata was certainly a fighter and a quick thinker, not afraid of using his teeth.

"I think I'll call you Sabretooth," I let him out of his pokéball, "will you play nice?"

The Rattata looked around for a bit and saw the two Squirtles blasting other Rattata's with their watergun attack. He jumped up and quickly ran up my clothes to sit on my shoulder. He hissed in my ear and jumped down, looking for his own prey to fight. Sabretooth it was then. I took out the marker and wrote his name on the ball. A sudden noise made me look up. A bird was trying to get away from my three pokémon and while Blaster and War kept him close to the ground due to the squirts of water, Sabretooth jumped up and bit him in the paws. Birds aren't really my speciality (as you may have guessed with the Articuno) so while I grabbed an unused pokéball in one hand, I took out my pokédex with the other. I threw the pokéball the same moment the pokédex got activated.

"Pidgey" it said while I captured it.

I read the information while I retrieved the pokéball. 3-step evolution, able to fly smaller persons over a long distance, tough dude in the sky, that didn't sound too bad. I was gonna keep this one to evolve into a Pidgeot, so I decided to call it Hawk, to the extinct species of bird that populated the skies before several (mostly human) threats caused all animals to evolve in pokémon now, what, a few decades ago? I vaguely remembered that the last normal animal lived about over 50 or 60 years ago. Anyway, now I had a new pokémon by the name of Hawk and he would do fine if he could fight off two Squirtles and a Rattata. I called the rest back and continued on my way. I still had two empty pokéballs and I was determined to catch two other pokémon.

!

I arrived in Viridian and went straight to the pokécentre like Oak had told me to. I gave my pokémon to the friendly nurse behind the counter and looked if I could get something to eat somewhere. The vending machine sold Magikarp sandwiches, Farfetch'd sandwiches or Taurus sandwiches. Since I had no money yet, I had to go on hungry (although I would have appreciated a Magikarp sandwich even after the islands). I collected my pokémon and wondered what way I would take now. There was a gym here, but I heard it was rather hard and only good pokémon trainers attended it. So I decided to head up to the buildings of the pokéleague, I knew I had a slim chance on entering, but you never know, you know? I was rejected completely. I returned to Viridian as I saw another bird. This was no Pidgey. As I released Sabretooth I checked my pokédex.

"Spearow" it said. I looked up and saw Sabretooth was on the verge of losing.

"Tackle it!" I shouted.

Sabretooth jumped up, grabbed the paws of the Spearow and pulled it down to throw its complete weight against the Spearow. The bird fell and as it tried to get up, I threw my pokéball. I caught it while Sabretooth got up.

"You got to do better, little dude."

He let out an apologizing moan and looked for another prey to show its superiority. A second Spearow flew up and in seconds Sabretooth had tackled it and was victorious.

"Alright, I get it, this one is a tough fighter and you know I like 'em tough."

I checked my pokédex again and saw it evolved into a Fearow. I let it out it's pokéball and it sat down right before me, keeping a close eye on me.

"So, you wanna evolve into a Fearow, or stay a Spearow?" I asked him.

He clapped his wings under a load "sperr" and remained silent.

"Spearow, huh? Fine, I'll call you Sparrow then."

He clapped his wings again and flew up on my shoulder.

"If we could find something you wouldn't evolve…" I muttered.

Sabretooth's cry made us look up. With a quick motion I reached under my jacket and let out Blaster, War and Hawk. Sabretooth ran towards me, just to turn right in front of me to attack his assailant one last time. The blue creature that chased him stopped in front of me. It dodged the Rattata and drove its teeth deep in its back. Sabretooth let out a short cry and fell down. Hawk flew down and drove up a gust. Suddenly a second one jumped out of the grass, a red one this time. It looked a bit more covered in scalelike horns and jumped towards Hawk. Fuck, I only had one pokéball left. War and Blaster decided to attack the smaller blue one while Hawk and Sparrow focused their attacks on the red one. They both fought back bravely but the one that my pokédex identified as a female Nidoran fell down. I quickly caught it and wondered what I was to do with the other one. I knew it wouldn't stay here until I returned with another pokéball. It looked at me, wondering, and jumped back into the grass. Hawk and Sparrow landed on my shoulders and I decided to leave the scene. When I returned to the pokécentre to heal my little critters I saw the male Nidoran looking at me from in the grasslands. I named the female Queen and I was planning getting that male one as well. When I returned to that patch of grass it remained there, looking at me, not moving while I trained my pokémon, not even when I fought with Queen. She looked a lot in his direction, but never made an attempt to go to him.

"Oh, go ahead," I said, "but return when I call you." I said.

She looked at me with what I can only describe as gratitude and left. About fifteen minutes later I decided my boys were strong enough to fight another trainer so I called for Queen. She came running with the male Nidoran close behind. He followed me when I went looking for someone to fight as well.


	3. My first fight

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

!

Chapter 3 – My first fight (or how to beat the snot out of some pokémon masters)

!

Some little kid just outside the pokécenter was bragging to his friends, on how his older brothers were all pokémon masters, and how he was going to join them, just as I passed by after training my pokémon. I suddenly wanted to challenge him. I had to challenge him, I hate people who brag. The only one who I want to hear bragging is me, and then most of what I brag about is true, so you can't really call it bragging. And besides, I needed the money.

"Hey kid," I asked him, "wanna fight?"

"You?" his eyes grew wide, "I…I don't know…"

"Come on, a starting pokémon master like you? That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Uhm," he looked at his friends for support but they all encouraged him to go along, so he caved, "okay."

The kid had a Bulbasaur (which he had called Bulbasaur, I mean, come on, there are like a gazillion Bulbasaurs on the world, so you can't come up with a name?), which I countered with Hawk. The Bulbasaur tried to vinewhip the Pidgey, but Hawk just dodged every attack and send him flying with a well timed gust. Then the kid brought out a Vulpix his brother had given him and before he could even roar, Blaster had washed him out with his watergun. His last pokémon was a Beedrill. I brought out Hawk and had to call him back sooner than I intended. I mean it, he started pecking so hard at the poor Beedrill that I thought he was gonna eat it!

"Well, kid, looks like I win," I grinned, "pay up."

Then that little snot started to cry and got his brothers.

"Oh, you're really tough against a small boy, aren't you?" his oldest brother said, to think that punk was about a year younger than me.

"My age has nothing to do with my pokémon." I rejected.

"Oh please," the second brother said, "what are you, pokémon master? Against a starter trainer! Shame on you."

"I just started actually." I explained.

"Yeah right," the third one said, "I saw you fight, you're too good to just start. And you're too old as well."

I sighed and took out my pokédex. They read my info and had to admit I had just started today.

"Wow, you're pretty good." The second one said.

Suddenly the little kid caught a glimpse of that Nidoran following me.

"Is that yours?" he asked.

"It will be when you pay up for losing the fight." I answered.

"It's not caught yet? Then it's finder's keepers." The oldest one shouted and threw a pokéball.

The pokéball squirmed and broke open. The Nidoran stayed where it was.

"Damn it," he shouted, "that was a great ball."

I collected the money from the little kid and started to go to the pokémart while he tried it again with an ultra ball this time. The Nidoran broke free again and kept on looking at me.

"I'm gonna get that Nidoran!" the kid shouted and brought forth his Pikachu.

I let out all my pokémon who stood before the Nidoran.

"If he tries to hurt him, go get him." I told them.

"You're kidding right?" he reacted, "lowlevel pokémon against my prize winning Pikachu?"

He started laughing and his Pikachu with him. He really shouldn't have done that. I was already hating him, but now I loathed him. A small cry made me turn and look at the Pikachu. It was rubbing its paw and looking at Sabretooth who sat there with a little smile.

"He bit my pikachu!"

"Sabretooth!" I shouted, "when he tries to hurt him, I said."

Sabretooth let out a grunt and kept on eyeing the Pikachu which had a worrysome look on his face. I suddenly remembered that some dogtype pokémon, like Growlithes, Vulpixes and Houndours could smell fear, as well as other predators. And right after that thought I saw my six pokémon as six predators, smelling the highlevel Pikachu's fear. And he knew it. He knew that no matter what, no matter how tough he was, he would lose to those six, ferocious pokémon. And suddenly I wondered if it was coincidence those pokémon were ferocious or because I attracted them?

"Pikachu, thundershock! Thundershock now! Go!"

While I heard the trainer shouting his commands and the thundershock finally came I hasted myself to the pokémart to get more balls before that Pikachu figured out he was better than my pokémon and that loser could catch that Nidoran.

!

When I came outside after buying three more pokéballs I saw Hawk sitting in front of the Nidoran, apparently unable to move with still with fire in his eyes. Sabretooth and Sparrow were attacking the pikachu from two sides, trying to dodge his thundershocks. Blaster, War and Queen were fighting a Magneton. All of them were losing so I did the only thing I could do. I threw a pokéball next to the Nidoran and with a small red flash he disappeared into the ball. The ball disappeared in a bright flash.

"But…But," he trainer started to mutter, "I threw a great and an ultra ball after him and you caught him with a normal ball! How?"

"Finder's keepers," I smiled, "and he found me."

I called back my other pokémon and returned to the pokécentre.

"Hey!" he shouted, "you owe me money for that fight!"

I turned around and went back to him. I stopped right before him, about two inches of his face.

"I'm sorry, did I challenge you? Or did you challenge me?" I asked him, and moved my face a bit closer to his, "I don't think so, so this was not a pokéfight, you just tried to catch a pokémon that I had already claimed. A pokémon that you couldn't catch so you decided to use violence and attack my pokémon."

"But…but your Rattata…" he whispered.

I could smell his fear.

"What about it?"

"Nothing…" squirm, squirm.

I let out a grin.

"That's settled then."

I turned around and headed to the pokécentre. My pokémon were ferocious and so was I. We were predators. I wondered what would happen if I got one of the cuddly kind…

!

I had decided to go fast trough Viridian Forest and to Pewter. I figured, the faster I got out of Viridian and those trainer types sight, the better for me. Several trainers stopped me in my path to challenge me, but Sparrow and Hawk had no problem with their bug pokémon. I however wanted to catch a Beedrill so I went on the look out for a Weedle. Most of them didn't put up a fight, even against Sabretooth, King and Queen. One Caterpie however was pretty tough (he even almost knocked Sabretooth out) but I was wondering if I wanted to catch him, after all, I didn't really want a lame ass Butterfree. But then I decided a pokémon was a pokémon, so I caught him. While I was writing Flutter on his pokéball (I had kept Blaster and War in the centre) I saw my Weedle. Sabretooth completely evaded him (being beaten twice on one day was too much a humiliation for him) and tackled him from behind (hey, if it works, don't diss it). The Weedle however leaped forward on the last second, bit King and poisoned him. I knew King was part a poisontype pokémon, so if you could poison one of those, you had to have strong venom. I threw my last ball and caught him. But now I had four nearly exhausted pokémon, including one poisoned. Therefore I had no choice to return to Viridian to heal them (and hope no one saw me).

No such luck of course.

"I thought you had left already."

I looked up while I was enjoying my Taurus sandwich on the terrace of the pokécentre and looked right in the lovely face of a cute female police officer.

"I'm sorry?" I replied.

"You're the kid that was making trouble just now, weren't you?" the officer asked.

"I guess you could say that, uhm," I hesitated, "should I call you officer or miss?"

"Miss will do for the moment, since that trainer hasn't pressed charges against you yet, so I'm not here on official business. But I suggest you leave immediately before he changes his mind and I'm forced to bring you in."

"Bring me in?"

"You won't have to do jailtime of course, but you will be fined for causing a non-challenged fight. If you're Rattata hadn't done anything, you would have been safe, but now…"

I nodded. Fuck, I didn't need this.

"I was on my way to Pewter when my Nidoran was poisoned by a Weedle. He's right he…" I looked at the place where the Weedle had been. I only saw his empty pokéball, "Driller" written on it with black marker. "Fuck, Blaster!"

The Squirtle took of the headphones and looked at me.

"Where's Driller?"

He pointed behind me. The Weedle was looking at an apple, thinking how he could snatch it, a few tables away.

"Is he safe there, or should I put him in his pokéball."

"A caught pokémon roaming free should always be in close range of his trainer," the officer said, "that is the maximum distance. What do you do to keep him from going further?"

I didn't know what to say, since I did nothing to keep him from going further, but I couldn't tell her that, since I was clearly on her good side, and I wanted to stay there. Suddenly Blaster (still with the headphones on) let out a soft cry. He had done so several times, but I hadn't paid any attention to it, since I thought he was reacting to the music. We saw the Weedle turn and return to his previous position, still looking at the apple, just out of reach due to the maximum roaming area.

"I let Blaster keep him close?" I tried.

The officer narrowed her eyes a bit.

"I'm going to let it go, for this time, but you better move on fast if you know what's good for you."

I was just about to apply when Driller's pokéball let out a sound and the activation button started flashing. I turned around and saw him break free from a pokéball. The trainer that wanted to catch my Nidoran was cursing.

"That was a great ball, do I really need to use an ultra ball for a Weedle?"

"What? The Fuck? Do You? Think! You're Doing?" I asked slowly.

"I'm trying to catch a Weedle who was stupid enough to get too close to this pokécentre. What? Don't tell me you're gonna stop me this time! I'll just have a talk with that lovely police officer and we'll see the last of you."

"Why do you think a Weedle is so close to the pokécentre?" the police officer asked.

"Huh?"

I held up a pokéball and pushed the activation button. Driller disappeared in a red light and entered the ball.

"Good boy, Driller." I put on a wicked smile.

"That…that was your pokémon?" the trainer asked sheepishly.

"Do you know the fine on trying to catch other peoples pokémon?" the police officer asked a bit too politely.

"Uh…" The kid could see his earned badges for the pokéleague disappear like snow in summer.

"That's okay, I won't press charges," I said with a smile, "after all, one favour disserves another, don't you think?"

"Uh… yeah, I guess it does…"

"I still wouldn't stay here long." The officer said quietly to me.

"Could I ask your name, in case I happen to pass here again and I'm in trouble?"

"Yes you could." She said and started to walk away.

Fuck, I thought, a smart mouth, but then again, so was I.

"Okay, what is your name?"

She turned and looked me in the eye.

"Katie Jenny. But you can call me officer Jenny." She turned and walked away to the police station.

I sighed and called back Blaster.

!

Viridian didn't have much of a music store but at least I had found batteries in the pokémart. I checked my finances and saw I could afford some more stuff. A few more pokéballs, for instance. And maybe some survival material, since I was headed through a forest. I had already seen some hikers who were planning to go through Mount Moon and those were packed with all sorts of stuff. Stuff that made me wanna have some, but I didn't have the finances, not yet anyway. Maybe it was for the better, I thought, cause most of that stuff I didn't really need, I wasn't planning on becoming a hiker. So I only bought a zippo lighter, a hunting knife and a bunch of rope. That was enough. I left the pokémart and returned to the woods. When I passed the pokécentre, I saw that punk trainer trying not to look at me, totally embarrassed, for trying to catch someone else his pokémon and at the table behind him was a cute redhead sipping from her coke. There was a glint in her eye that I liked, but I was planning on leaving and besides, that flirting with officer Jenny, Katie, was more than enough for one day. Okay, it wasn't, but I really had to get going. Maybe I could return in about a couple of weeks or so to look her up. But now I really had to get going, not pay any attention to the redhead. Check if I have the pokémon I need, Sparrow, Hawk, King and Queen, Blaster and Driller, check. Maybe I should take Flutter instead of Kin… No I had to go, stay away from redheads, they may be hot, but I had to go.

Okay, I'm a sucker for pretty women, but I had willpower, so without looking more than twice at her I left Viridian to go back to Viridian Forest.


	4. Enter Team Rocket

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

!

Chapter 4 – Enter Team Rocket

!

A large boat stranded on the rocky beach. It would have been marine blue if the sea had actually been marine blue.-, but this boat was a bit darker, giving the impression that it would be very hard to spot on a dark night in the middle of the ocean. And since there were no real obvious marks on it, it suggested that whoever owned the boat made sure that was the purpose. Two men in black leather uniforms with a small red R on their chest jumped out. Quickly they began to search the area. The man with the trimmed haircut, making him look like a fresh recruit for the army, found the broken lifebelt and held it up high.

"SS A." the other one said, "That's from the Anne alright, but that doesn't prove he washed ashore here."

"There are imprints of a man on the beach." The soldier guy said.

"It's a rock beach, there are pebbles everywhere, how do you know if there are imprints?"

"Well, look here," he explained, moving a bit to the spot Tony had come to senses, "the pebbles here are pushed deeper then anywhere else on the beach, like something was lying here."

"What are you? Davy Crocket? Maybe it was a Blastoise."

"Have you ever seen a Blastoise? Those things are fucking huge. If it was a Blastoise, there would be a trail deeper into the island. I'm telling you, this was a man."

"Okay, fine, maybe," the other one caved, "but where is he now? And how do you know it's the one we're looking for?"

"I don't but I know how to find out."

"Oh, and please share that information."

The trail seeker ignored that remark and returned to the boat. He brought a huge, snowwhite Persian on shore who sniffed the vague imprints. He then looked towards the centre of the island.

"Come on, quickly, he may still be here."

"After three days, I think those Squirtles ate him."

"Squirtles eat Magikarp, not humans. Besides, if he's dead, the boss will have our heads. So you better pray he's alive."

!

A few hours later the two men and the Persian appeared on the other side of the island. The large cat cried towards the other islands.

"Fuck, he went swimming?" the negative Rocket said, "Now he's dead for sure."

"He's a tough kid," the other one said, "I'm sure he managed somehow. But it's up to us to find him before somebody else does. We can't let him run free."

"I know, so now what do we do?"

"We get back to the boat and go to the nearest island. Maybe we find another trace there."

"Should be no problem with your 'leet' tracking skills…" the other one muttered.

"Well, some of us had a real hobby instead of playing computer games," came the reply.

!

The sun was setting when the Rockets finally stranded the island. The persian jumped out and sniffed the beach. He let out a cry and followed the faint trace. Then he suddenly stopped and looked around.

"What? What happened?"

"I don't know, apparently he lost the trace."

"What do you mean, he lost the trace? There's nothing there to lose trace from! It's a huge open space!"

"I don't know either, but the Persian can't smell him anymore. Fuck the boss is gonna be pissed."

"Well, why don't you take a look? I mean, you're good at this… you found his imprints back there! Maybe you can find something again!"

The trimmed Rocket kneeled next to the Persian and let his fingers gently run over the rocky underground without disturbing anything.

"He fell here," he said and look a bit further, "and… Fuck! Me!"

"What? What is it?"

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it was fucking huge! I mean look at these imprints."

"I'm looking but I'm seeing shit, treat me like a fucking newb, okay?"

The kneeling Rocket glanced over to his companion.

"Newb? I have no idea how you manage to pick up girls you don't meet in a chat-room first."

"Cut the crap and tell me what's going on?"

"Something big was sitting here, and apparently took off. I have no idea what it was or if our guy was here at the time."

"Fuck! Do you think he's dead?"

"No, he's too good to just die, I'm sure he's still alive somewhere. But we better find him. I think we should warn all outposts."

"Do we tell them who he is?"

"No, that may cause trouble. Best is to just leave all details vague, that way they will contact us and won't try anything on their own."

"But if they don't warn us and try to take him on their own?"

"We'll spread the word he's dangerous, and actually, he really is."

"Yeah, as dangerous as they get." The other one grunted, remembering what the person they were after had already done.

They had to find him, and preferably alive, the future of Team Rocket was at stake.


	5. Pika

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

!

Chapter 5 – Pika

!

I was getting through Viridian Forest pretty easy. Unfortunately, that actually meant the trainer part of Viridian Forest. Most trainers had bug pokémon and those were no problem for my two birds, but the forest itself was covered in high, hard to get through, grasses that had more Weedles, Kakuna's, Caterpies and Metapods than Britney Spears had cup-sizes. And somehow along the way, I had picked something up. I didn't know quite know what it was, but it was annoying. It was smaller than me, and followed me around, clinging to me, and because of the thick bush, I couldn't shake it. I had a bad feeling about this. Oh, fucking great, another Metapod.

"Driller, dispatch that, will you?"

Unfortunately he attacked the Metapod. The cocoon fell down and suddenly my Weedle started spraying goo all around. No wait, that didn't come out right.

"Cool, it's evolving into a Kakuna."

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I turned around and faced my nuisance.

"Pewter, like you, right?"

Fuck. I took out my knife to cut through the weeds so we, I could move on.

"It's a good thing we both are going the same way so, ouch, why did you throw a pokéball at me?"

Damn, it wasn't a pokémon, so it had to be human. The kid looked at me with hurt in his eyes, somewhere underneath his thick glasses under that large hat. If it were anger I would have understood, but hurt? If somebody threw a pokéball at me, I would have decked him. But this guy was just pathetic.

"Man, you are pathetic."

"Huh? Why?"

I threw the knife down so the blade drove deep into the ground.

"You keep following me around although I made it perfectly clear by ignoring you on all occasions that you're not wanted, and still you tag along. Beat it, before I lose my temper."

I turned around and didn't see my knife.

"Where's my knife?"

"What knife?"

I turned back to the little bugger and looked at him as he was retarded. His look told me he in fact didn't see me pull a knife. I came to the conclusion he was retarded.

!

It was then I heard a few small cries. I pulled away the weeds and saw two Pikachu's playing with my knife.

"You little thieves!" I yelled.

One of them jumped up and tried to shock me. I lashed out but unfortunately got out Hawk. He got hit by the thunderbolt and fell down.

"Bird pokémon aren't good against… Ouch, why did you hit me?"

Then I saw it happen. The other one who was still holding my knife, suddenly cut himself. He let out a cry of pain while blood flowed over his little paw onto the ground. In a reflex he shocked his environment. I got hit pretty bad (and fortunately, so did four eyes), and looked up. The unwounded Pikachu came up, half scared to death, shocking everything in its way. Suddenly the Kakuna formerly known as Driller fell before me and the Pikachu halted to inspect his new enemy. Suddenly it appeared hit by something. It turned for a second and fell down. The wounded Pikachu was bleeding harder and shocking harder. I saw something leave the tail of the Kakuna and hit the Pikachu. It fell down.

"Fuck, he used his poison sting."

"Well, Kakuna's can do that…"

"Yeah, but not more than once!" I kneeled down to check him and I saw a small hole in its tail, dripping with black poison and white goo. I had a feeling he was going to die if I didn't acted soon. I took out a pokéball and caught the first Pikachu. I put Driller in his pokéball and looked for the second Pikachu.

"Oh no, that one's mine." The little nerd said and held up a pokéball.

I grabbed his arm so he dropped the ball.

"That little guy is bleeding to death. If you catch it, it's gonna be transported to your pokéserver and when you can reach it, it will have bled to death."

"But a wounded pokémon is fully restored when it goes to a box." He muttered.

"Only if it is something potions and stuff can fix, not cuts. He has to be treated at a pokécentre, and that poison isn't helping." I ripped my shirt to make a bandage for its paw.

"Well it's your Kakuna that…"

He fell silent when he saw my look. I grabbed my knife and the Pikachu and started hacking my way through the weeds to get to Pewter. I felt something getting hit by my foot and asked four eyes what it was (it didn't feel like a rock).

"It's a bottle, hey, I found an antidote."

"Give it to me."

"I found it."

"You only have it, because I told you it was there, now GIVE IT."

I swear, I held the knife right under his chin. I was ready to slash his throat.

"Okay."

I gave the antidote to the Pikachu and it slowly opened it's eyes.

"Hey, you're a trainer? I challenge…"

"Not now, dude." I shoved the last trainer aside and ran into the city.

!

I pushed open the door of the pokécentre with my shoulder, stormed in and put the wounded pikachu on the counter. The nurse behind the counter seemed frozen.

"I need some help here?" I tried.

"Please don't hurt me." She squealed.

Suddenly I realised I was still holding the knife, and that a lovely police officer was behind me with a weapon drawn. I dropped the knife and nodded at the Pikachu.

"He has a cut in his leftpaw, I tried to put a bandage but it still lost a lot of blood. Help him please."

The nurse still looked terrified but took the Pikachu and went to the surgery room with it.

The police officer came closer with her weapon, but still out of my range.

"I'm sorry I came in here with a knife, I had totally forgotten about it. I'm ready to come to the station with you. I'm not going to make any problems."

"Good boy." She said with a smile.

!

I was looking at the posters at the wall, just to past the time. It had turned dark and everything pointed out to the fact that I would spend the night in jail. When I finished with the posters, I decided to study them again, a bit more closer this time. Wanted: Team Rocket, Wanted: Team Rocket, Have you seen this Jigglypuff, Wanted: Team Rocket. Okay, maybe I should focus on something else. Finally the door opened and the police officer entered the room and sat at the table right in front of me.

"Are you, by any chance, related to officer Jenny from Viridian ?" I asked.

"Why, yes, indeed, she's a cousin."

"Ah, I can see the family resemblance."

"I'm sorry it took so long, but I had to check some things first."

"Like four eyes," I said, "the kid that can prove I used my knife to cut through the bushes, and that the Pikachu cut himself."

"Yes, Allan," she sighed, "Allan was very… interesting."

Uh-oh.

"Did you hit him with a pokéball?"

Fuck.

"Yes, but that was because he was really annoying."

"Did you hit him?"

Fuck.

"I did, but I don't really remember why, I do remember the two Pikachu's attacked us at that time."

"Did you stole antidote from him?"

Fuck.

"No, I found the antidote, he picked it up and then refuse to give it back to heal the wounded Pikachu that was poisoned."

"Did you threaten him with a knife?"

Fuck.

"Yes, but only because he refused to give the antidote to the wounded Pikachu."

Fuck.

"Don't blame yourself, I spent fifteen minutes with him before he gave me an accurate version of the facts and I had to restrain myself not to shoot him."

Okay, so maybe I wasn't THAT fucked.

"I also spoke to professor Oak from Pallet town. He vouched for you as a caring person for pokémon and so did my niece Jenny from Viridian . She said you couldn't see pokémon needlessly get hurt."

I couldn't, at least not my pokémon.

"And today at the pokécentre you also proved you care for wounded pokémon."

"So the whole knife thing?"

"We may be able to let that slip."

I was getting of the hook? God, yes!

"If some restrictions are kept in order."

I wasn't getting of the hook.

"You're putting me on probation?"

"Yes, each time you enter a new town or city, you must report to the police station for the first three months, you must stay out of trouble for that period or have a damn good explanation."

This could get in my way of hunting pokémon. Maybe I could stay in the wilderness for three months.

"Professor Oak told me you are a pokémon hunter?"

"Yes, I try to be."

"What exactly is a pokémon hunter?"

"I go and catch pokémon for other people and then they pay or trade me for that pokémon."

"No matter what pokémon?"

"The rarer the pokémon, the more information and payment I must receive."

"We here at Pewter  are now over a year waiting for an new police Growlithe. Normally we could get one at a breeding facility, but wildborn Growlithes are better. Could you catch some for this station?"

"I guess, where can I find Growlithes?"

"If I'm not mistaken, they can be found near Saffron ."

"That should be no problem, once I get over Mount Moon."

"But first you would have to return to Pallet Town."

"Pallet Town? Why?"

"It seems professor Oak has some things to give you."

Well, I could see Katie again in Viridian.

AN: Sorry about the lack of updates, but my beta-reader (yes, this time I work with a beta-reader) was sick and couldn't review my work. Anyway, I'll update next chapter sooner (probably tomorrow).


	6. The next day

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

!

Chapter 6 – The next day

!

The first thing I did when I got out of the police station - officer Jenny was so nice to let me spend the night - (nothing happened you fucking perverts) was go to the pokécentre to see how that Pikachu was doing. The reception I got was a whole lot better than the previous day.

"Oh, you're here to see that Pikachu?" the friendly nurse asked.

When you're not threatening with a knife, she is friendly.

"I am, and sorry about yesterday, I completely forgot I had that knife."

"That's okay, officer Jenny explained everything, how you only had that Pikachu on your mind. What's his name, anyway?"

"I don't know, actually it's not mine yet, I didn't want to catch it since I was afraid it would bleed to death in a pokéball."

"Oh, that was good thinking, we managed to stich his wound, and it's all better now, thanks to your quick acting."

She went to the backroom and returned with the Pikachu in a cage. That somehow upset me.

"Since you didn't leave a pokéball, we had to put it in cage. Another kid wanted to take it with him, but officer Jenny recommended we kept it until you came."

"What other kid?" I asked but somehow I knew the answer.

"Hey, you're back." I heard an annoying voice behind me.

"Oh," my memory raced, "Allan, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it is." The kid smiled broadly.

"You wanted to take that Pikachu?" I asked with a friendly smile.

"Well, you already have one, so…"

"I'll take him." I turned back to the nurse.

She opened the cage and I laid a pokéball in front of it. The Pikachu went straight to the ball and disappeared in a red flash. I took out my marker and wrote Shockrat on it. I then retrieved the other Pikachu and wrote Shocker on that pokéball. I thanked the nurse for her kind cares for the Pikachu and Driller who was better now that hole in its shell was closed.

"It's my job," she said with a smile, "I've heard you're going to see professor Oak?"

"I am."

"Wow, really? That man's a legend under pokémon trainers." Allan shouted.

"I'll tell him that and also the fact that legends are mostly dead. That's what makes 'em legends."

"Really?"

"Sometimes, other dead people are just corpses."

"Heh, heh, funny."

I was ready to find out if Allan would make a legend or just a corpse, but I had to be nice, for at least three months. I said goodbye to the nurse, ignored Allan and left the centre. I was just about to enter Viridian Forest when I heard a voice behind me. That cute girl from Viridian was standing before me.

"Wow, you really know how to draw attention to yourself." She said with a seductive smile.

"I try not to, but somehow I just do."

"So, what were you doing here in Pewter?"

"My original plan was to challenge the gymleader for a badge, but that's postponed for a while."

"Really? Why? The badges are useless when the pokéleague starts and it starts in a month, and only good trainers can get all badges in one month, and since you just started…"

"My ultimate goal isn't the pokéleague."

"Really? Everyone's goal is the pokéleague."

"Not mine." I turned around and walked on.

"I've heard you're going to see professor Oak."

"News travels fast."

"He's a big name among the pokémon experts."

"So I've heard."

"Why are you going to see him?"

"Aren't you curious?"

"I'm a very curious woman."

"That's nice, but it's my personal business." For as far I have personal business, I might as well keep it to myself.

"Well, I'll hope you'll tell me next time we meet."

"Why do you think we'll meet again?"

"I just have a feeling."

I couldn't tell if that was a good thing.

"My name's Angela."

"I'm Tony, and if you'll excuse me, I have a rather urgent appointment."

"Very well," she said and turned, "until next time."

Yeah, whatever. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I didn't like something about her. I shrugged and continued on my way.

"Tony, wait!"

Fuck.

"Can I come to meet professor Oak?" Allan came storming towards me.

"No, he asked me, and he's a busy man."

Well, I thought he was a busy man.

"But couldn't you introduce me?"

"No, I'm a busy man as well, so leave me, okay?"

"But could you mention me?"

"Okay, I'll mention you." I sighed.

"Great, thanks." He said with a smile and ran back to Pewter.

Idiot.

!

My trip through Viridian Forest went a lot easier than the previous day with no real incidents. Well, except maybe one. I almost fell over a pokémon, not a Kakuna or Metapod as you might expect, but a sleeping Pikachu. I brought out Blaster while yelling a load "Go" and he stood there very intimidating in front of the Pikachu and since it was still sleeping it kinda lost it's effect. Blaster looked at me, asking me what to do and I shrugged. This was gonna be the easiest fight in my career. He kicked his victim to wake him. He kicked him again. He looked at me again with an embarrassed look in his eyes. He kicked him a third time and with a large yawn the Pikachu woke up. He looked around drowsy and saw Blaster who immediately retook his intimidating pose. The Pikachu let out a small yelp and a small puddle formed on the ground he was sitting on. Blaster hesitated for a second and let out a small growl. The Pikachu let out a small yelp again and tried to run, right against a tree. Blaster and I sighed but the Pikachu got up again, looking at us in fear, throwing out small sparks. So, it was an idiot but a fighter, well, sorta. I then knew exactly what to do. I took out a pokéball and caught him. Why, do you ask? Because I could train it to become as ferocious as my other pokémon? Well, no, with my luck I would run into Allan again, and since he always wanted a Pikachu… I'm a bastard, I know.

!

I past Viridian quickly after stopping at the police station and after officer Jenny warned me to stay out of trouble. I was almost in Pallet Town when I saw something sticking out of the grass. Dark brown eyes looked at me curiously. My pokédex taught me it was Sentret and I couldn't resist. Quickly my new Pikachu's attacked and he dodged them easily, just staying out of their reach. I immediately knew he was playing with them. I whistled to get his attention and while he looked, Shocker, the little sneaky critter, tackled him from behind. I caught him and after going through it's information on my pokédex, I decided to call him Weasel.

Whistling I entered Pallet town and went straight to Oak's house.

"Ah, Tony, how are you?"

"Better, thanks to you." I smiled.

"Yes, I heard about that little incident. What happened?"

"Would you mind if I told that inside? I'm starved."

"I know something even better, why don't we talk in the garden? Then you can be with all the pokémon you've caught."

I accepted and about fifteen minutes later I was sitting in the garden with Blaster, War, Sabretooth, Hawk, Sparrow, King and Queen, Shocker and Shockrat, Weasel, Driller and finally Flutter, who thanks to a run in with a Rattata had evolved into a Metapod, and unfortunately Allan's Pikachu, who tried to fight a flowerpot, while eating a Taurus sandwich (I was eating the sandwich, not the Pikachu, he would probably try to be friends with it).

"Very impressive, I must say," as Oak glanced over my little critters, "not many trainers have all pokémon between Pallet town and Pewter before they have their first badge. You're a natural."

"Let's hope I find pokémon as easily when I hunt them."

"Yes, about that," Oak said, "I've spoken to the organisation of the pokéleague and they have agreed with it, they say it's very good that someone would go out and find rare pokémon to help them breed them so more different pokémon can enter the competition. I think they're a bit tired of all Rattata's, Pikachu's and Pidgey's entering, they would like some more Lapra's, Snorlaxes and Houndours. You must find those and bring them to the pokéleague."

"They'll pay me for them, right?"

"Of course, you will be compensated for your efforts. The rarer the pokémon, the more you'll be compensated."

There seemed to be a slight hesitation.

"There's a problem?"

"Yes, they didn't use the word payment once, only compensation, so I don't know what exactly they meant. It might be badges or something."

"That's okay, if it's interesting, I'll take it, otherwise, there will be enough people who would like a Lapra's, right?"

"Uhm, yes, I believe so. Anyway, I have something to give to you."

"Officer Jenny from Pewter told me. What is it?"

"Please follow me inside."

I stood up and started to follow him inside, just before I was to enter the house, I turned around, looked at my pokémon and tried to show them who was boss.

"Stay!"

They all looked at me like I just said I was the pope and continued with whatever they were doing. I raised them good.


	7. New toys

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

!

Chapter 7 – New toys

!

Professor Oak showed me the red laptop.

"This is called a pokégear. You can find more information on it than on the pokédex. It also has the maps of Kanto and Johto, since it was developed there by a colleague of mine, professor Elm. Don't worry, you'll still be able to use your pokédex because I know this is a bit to big to use in the field. I designed the pokédex to be used in the field and I tried to make it as userfriendly as possible. I'm sure you noticed."

I nodded, the pokédex was useful in the field.

"Now, you can also add information on it and send to the pokéleague. If they can check it, they might add it to the newest version of the pokédex. Your name will also be added in the thankslist, which is a great honour for some trainers. I would also like to give you this cellphone so I can contact you if something vitals comes up, or you me, in case you get into trouble… again."

"Thanks, I hope I won't be needing it for that." I was dead serious, I didn't want to get into trouble.

"Finally, you'll get this little radio/mp3 player, so you can listen to the radio for vital information or listen to any music you want, you can tape it from the radio or an outside source like CD player. You can use headphones for it or put it on speaker. It also has a link to your pokéball since scientist, like me," he said it with so much emphasis, it had to be him who proved it, "that pokémon like certain kinds of music, so this way, they can listen to it when they are in their pokéball. I've come to the conclusion that your pokémon, all your pokémon as a matter of fact, like the harder type of music. Not my favourite, but still."

"What can I say, they take after me." I said mockingly.

"Yes, that's one of the mysteries of pokémon."

I was lost.

"Test has proven that many pokémon take after their trainer, but none have adapted so fast as yours."

"So, it's not a coincidence my pokémon are ferocious?"

"Ferocious? Why, when I take care of them, they're always, friendly, except maybe for, what's his name, Sabretooth?"

"Hm, sounds exactly like me. That is strange. And you have no idea what causes this?"

"No, but I don't really think that should be a problem?"

"No, it's not, not at all. Was there something else?"

"No, not really."

"Very well, I'll be on my way again, then. Oh, one more thing. Since I don't have a place to live anywhere, may I send stuff that I buy on my travels here?"

"Sure, I'll set up the guest room, so to speak."

"Thanks, dude, I mean professor."

"That's okay, it's no problem," he let out a little smile as he bended through the knees a bit and brought his shoulders back when he pointed at me, "dude."

I had to do my best not to let out "Yeah, right" and shook his hand.

"Oh, yeah, when a kid called Allan shows up? Don't talk to him."

Hey, I mentioned him, didn't I?

Well, back to Pewter then.

!

Man, I hope I get my first badge soon because I'm fucking tired of this trip between Pallet Town and Pewter. I had decided to leave immediately so it was getting near dark when I arrived at Viridian. I was almost too tired to stop at the police station, but the friendly nurse at the pokécentre reminded me. I crashed at the centre and had a good long rest. The next day I left with refreshed spirits and trained all my pokémon in Viridian Forest. Man, was that place easy with all those pod pokémon. When I thought I was ready I left for the Pewter gym and thanks to War and Blaster I cruised through those trainers and their rock and ground pokémon. Then it was time to take on the gym leader. I had heard in the centre it wasn't the original gym leader, but his father, since the gym leader left to be a pokémon breeder (and also that he was seemingly very obsessed by sex).

"You're good with your water pokémon." He said.

"Let's see if I'm good with my other as well." I responded. Next to Blaster and War I had also Hawk, Shocker, Driller, King and Sabretooth. I chose Sabretooth.

"What? You have water pokémon and you choose something else?"

I shrugged.

"I got to give the others a chance as well, don't I? If they can't make it, I'll rely on Blaster and War, but they have to have their shot, right?"

"Well, I guess…" he hesitated.

It was a long shot, I knew. He got out a Geodude. He didn't look so tough. I sent out Sabretooth that tried to tackle the rock. That looked painful and I thought I saw blood. The Geodude grabbed Sabretooth and threw him back. Sabretooth landed on all fours and attacked again. He jumped over the Geodude and pushed him from behind. The Geodude rolled over and Sabretooth pushed him again. The Geodude was rolling all over the arena, but Sabretooth wasn't really doing any damage.

"You're not guiding your pokémon?" the gym leader asked.

"Uhm, no?" I tried, "They seem to be doing fine like they are, so why should I yell out what to do. If they can manage without my help, I'm not going to distract them by shouting."

"That's a stupid move, if you coach you pokémon, you can do this, Geodude, rock throw."

The geodude glanced over to the gym leader and seemingly nodded. He plunged his hands in the ground and pulled out a huge rock (which suddenly explained all the fixed holes and rock piles in the arena). The Geodude let out a triumphant cry and was ready to throw the rock on his opponent, who had strangely enough, disappeared. He looked around for it's prey and then looked at the gym leader for further instructions.

"Tackle." I coached my pokémon professionally.

Sabretooth jumped up from behind one of the rock piles and before the Geodude knew what was going on, Sabretooth threw his full weight against the little rock, causing the big rock, which the Geodude still held, to fall down. Sabretooth was fast enough to get away, the Geodude wasn't.

"Using his own attack against him, impressive. I can't say I've seen something like this before." The gym leader said while retrieving Geodude, "but it's not over yet."

Dude, that was one big Onix. Sabretooth ran over to me with a lot of effort and a quick examination taught me he had a dislocated shoulder (if Rattata's can have that of course, but he definitely dislocated something). I called him back and brought for Driller. You may think I miscalculated, but you don't know my deeper strategy. Okay, I miscalculated.

"Hah, a Kakuna? Onix, bind."

The onix lounged forward and wrapped himself around the Kakuna, which was kinda impressive given the size of both the Onix and Kakuna. Suddenly the Onix let out a cry and let Driller go. I saw a small black drop at his tail. The Onix was poisoned. I knew that was going to happen when I got out Driller. I really did. Honest. Onix smashed his tail in anger against Driller and he landed against a huge rock. He fell down on the ground and I could see his shell was cracked. Fuck, not again, I had to get my pokéball out before something bad happened to him. I saw his shell crack further and break down. A large Beedrill stood up and spread its still wet wings. A quick flap dried them enough to fly and he flew up circling the Onix. Unfortunately his poison stings couldn't do much damage anymore, although the Onix was swaying dangerously around. Maybe Driller just could fly around until the Onix fell unconscious.

"Onix, back." The Onix was pulled back into the pokéball.

I won? Cool.

"Geodude, finish the job." The gym leader shouted as he brought back Geodude in play.

You can do that? How come nobody told me? Okay, that's it, I was going to finish this fast and good.

"Driller back, Blaster, kick his ass."

The Squirtle came out and a quick squirt of water threw the Geodude against the wall. Needless to say Onix didn't last long as well.

"I thought you said you weren't going to use your water pokémon."

"I lost my patience." I said, truthfully.

!

Five minutes later I walked out with a sparkling badge on my pokédex, trying to find out why the damn thing was sparkling on the screen of my pokédex since it didn't make any sense. Maybe young kids thought it was "groovy" or something. I just thought it was stupid. I checked my pokémon at the centre and looked for a room for that night. Battling the gym leader made me a lot of money, so I decided I was show the world I was a material gir… I mean guy. The pokémart didn't have a much better CD-collection than Viridian, but I was able to buy some good "commercial" bands like The Offspring and Blink 182, but unfortunately no Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Pennywise or Metallica. Oh well, this will have to do. I also bought a huge backpack, a new pair of pants and a few t-shirts. Since the trip to Cerulean was through Mount Moon I could use my army boots, so I decided not to buy other shoes. The rest of the money I spend on potions and repel and stuff. When I had everything I needed (I didn't buy a new knife, I didn't want a repeat of that pikachu incident), I returned the centre to try out that mp3 player. When I had everything on mp3, I went to sleep so I could cross Mount Moon totally refreshed.


	8. Right behind

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

!

Chapter 8 – Right behind

!

The boat stopped in the small bay just outside Pallet Town.

"Are you sure?"

"Giovanni didn't want the outposts to know about him, but he heard about someone with his description, and now we're here to check that out."

The two men let out a small boat, to reach the shore. Both were dressed casual, so no one would suspect they were Rockets. They both had blue jeans on while one had a red shirt and the other a black shirt. The one with the red shirt put on a short black jacket while the other one used his Rocket trenchcoat. Since there were no markings on it, he figured he could use it.

"So we're gonna check out everyone who fits his description?" the one with the red jacket asked.

"Until we have a positive ID." Was the reply.

"Do you know how many twenty year olds there are with long black hair, dressed in black?"

"Not that many since new wave went out of style, and that was about fifteen years ago."

"Okay, but still," his mind slowly caught up with events, "hey, how did Giovanni hear about this kid anyway?"

"I hope you mean the one we're looking for now."

"Of course I do. I'm not an idiot, I know how Giovanni heard about our target."

"Good, well, apparently the one were looking for now, threatened someone else over a wounded Pikachu or something."

"Huh?"

"The Pikachu was wounded and that other guy bothered him or something, so our target pulled out a knife. I've heard he stormed even in the pokécentre with the knife and demanded the Pikachu was to be treated."

"But he don't even care about pokémon."

"I know, but Giovanni wants us to investigate it, and I must say, it does sound like him."

"I don't know, pulling out a knife?"

"He did it before."

"I know, but over something as trivial as a Pikachu? Come on!"

The other Rocket shrugged as he jumped on the shore and secured the boat.

"So we're going to Pewter now?"

"First we stop here."

"Won't he be in jail?"

"No, they let him out, but the best part is, he has to report to the police station in every city he stops."

"Good. That way it's easier to track him, if it is him."

"And he's not that far from us."

"Why, when was all this?"

"Three days ago."

"Three days? He can be at the other side of Mount Moon by now!"

"Possible, but according to Giovanni's source, he had some connection with professor Oak."

"THE Oak?"

"The one living here in Pallet Town."

Both Rockets grinned and looked towards professor Oak's house.

"Then let's pay the good professor a visit."

!

Professor Oak took a good look at both men. One had a stylish haircut that kept his blond hair nice in order with a short black jacket and a red shirt, the other had a trimmed cut that gave the top of his skull a hint of black. He wore a black trenchcoat with a black shirt. It seemed like something used to be patched on the sleeves of his trenchcoat, just under his shoulders but he couldn't be sure and it would draw to much attention if he tried to take a closer look. He returned his attention to the picture. It was a shot of Tony, dressed in black (which didn't really surprise Oak as much as the picture), sitting on a bench in a park somewhere, Oak suspected the Safari Zone as he thought he could make out the silhouette of a Lapras in the back.

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't seen him. Why do you look for him?"

"Personal business." The one with the smooth haircut said.

"My kid brother," the trimmed one, quickly replied, giving his compatriot a mean look, "he disappeared a few days ago and I've heard he was sighted here."

"Ah, I'm sorry, but I don't know him."

"Very well," the trimmed one said, "I'm very sorry to have troubled you."

"Not at all, goodbye gentlemen." Oak said as he closed the door.

The Rockets returned to the boat.

"Well that was a bust." The blonde one said.

"Not at all," the tracker replied as he put the picture back in the pocket of his trenchcoat, "he knows him, I saw it in his reaction when he saw the picture. He just doesn't want to tell us, so that means our boy has talked."

"Should we kill him?"

"What? Kill Oak? No, not for the moment. I'm sure the good professor isn't a threat to us. And if he is…" He let out a wicked smile.

"So, now what?"

"We go to Pewter to find him."

"What if he isn't there anymore. It's been three days."

"Then we fly to Cerulean and wait for him there."

!

Oak looked through his window and saw the two men turn to the road to Viridian. Damn, they didn't buy his story. He didn't know what was going on, but he had to warn Tony so he picked up his phone and dialled Tony's number.


	9. Getting Jiggly with it

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

!

Chapter 9 – Getting Jiggly with it

!

When I stopped at the police station to tell them I was leaving, I learned officer Jenny had gone up to Mount Moon. Well, at least I was to see a pretty face there. When I was about to leave Pewter some weird guy came to me.

"Hey, you got a Vileplume by any chance?" he asked, "or a Gloom, that's okay too. I can get the sunstone later."

I looked at him, he pushed his long lightbrown hair back and looked kinda dodgy. His shirt had seen better times and probably even better owners. The word 'stoner' came to mind.

"Sorry dude, can't help you." And even if I could, something told me I better didn't.

"Oh, I thought, well, if you can get one…" he grinned, "I'm sure you know how to get one."

He turned around as he laughed at something that was apparently funny, but I didn't get the joke. Why was he sure I could get a Gloom? He also had had a look in his eye that suggested he knew me, or at least knew someone that looked like me. I could have gone after him to find out, but I wasn't sure if I would like the answer.

!

The road to Mount Moon was full of trainers and I liked it that way. You might have guessed I'm not really a people person, but I enjoyed the battles (and none of those guys clung to me). I could feel Flutter was on the verge of evolving but he remained in his pod. Oh well, then not. He had to crawl out of his shell one day and grow open, heh, get it? Crawl out of his shell and grow o…? Never mind. Anyway. The last girl I fought tried to deck me with a Jigglypuff. A Jigglypuff of all pokémon. Puh-lease. Sabretooth kicked his ass easily, with a lot of luck… Fucking lullaby…

"Come on guys, I mean, what was up with that?"

Flutter, Blaster, War, Sparrow and Weasel were sitting quietly (and still drowsy) before me. Sabretooth was gloating of course.

"It's obvious we have to train on speed so this doesn't happen again," I glanced at the Rattata, "and also precision," he suddenly dropped his head low, "no more misses, not giving the opponent a chance. Striking hard and ruthless," somehow I didn't like how that sounded, "I mean as hard and ruthless as we are allowed."

I looked around at my pokémon who all stood there, giving me their full attention. I suddenly felt the need for a name. You know, a nickname for a platoon or something, like the Dirty Dozen (not the rap formation, of course, but the platoon from the movie with the same name) but first of all, I could only carry six and not twelve, and the Dirty Dozen all died in the movie one by one (why can't the rap formation do the same, but this on a side note), and I intended to keep them as long as possible. How about… Hunter's Hunters, which sounded completely ridiculous.

A sound made me look up and I saw a Jigglypuff come out of the bushes, humming a song. I believe the glint in my eye was the same as the one in my pokémon's eye (except for Flutter since a Metapod doesn't really have eyes, at least not on the outside).

"Well boys, go get him." I grinned.

Could you believe the little motherfucker dodged everything they threw at him? He jumped up to avoid a tackle of Weasel and landed in front of me and held his front paw up high. Slowly he raised one of his fingers. That little bastard just flipped me the bird! As he dodged Sabretooth's attack I threw a pokéball at him. It closed and immediately broke right open while the activation button flashed green. That meant the pokémon was already registered as caught (I never understood why the button flashed red for go and green for not… go… well, you know what I mean). Fuck, and I promised to stay out of trouble. Now that he had made it clear I couldn't catch him the Jigglypuff started to taunt me even more. That's where I drew the line.

"Okay, you're too strong and fast for my pokémon," I called back my pokémon, "congratulations," he stood right in front of me, grinning, knowing he had won, "but I wonder, are you too strong and fast for me?"

He had just the time to look puzzled when my boot hit him right between the eyes and sent him flying. He touched down a few meters away and stayed there. I stretched my arm and especially my middle finger before I picked him up and carried him to the pokécentre at the bottom of Mount Moon.

!

I opened the door and looked straight in the face of officer Jenny.

"I didn't know he wasn't a wild pokémon." I said instinctively.

"Huh?"

I held up the still unconscious Jigglypuff. She looked blankly at it and then narrowed her eyes.

"Is that a boot imprint?"

"Uhm…"

"My Jigglypuff!" our attention were drawn away from the imprint and looked at some old geezer coming from the other side of the pokécentre.

"This yours?" I asked.

"It is, thank you for finding it." The man was ecstatic.

"He's a good fighter." I said.

"Oh, he's not trained to fight but to entertain, but Lawrence here is a bit rebellious, isn't he?" He shook the pokémon gently and that woke him up. Lawrence saw where he was and tried to get away but he couldn't escape the iron grip of the old man.

"Maybe I can find you a Jigglypuff that's a bit more…" I was looking for the right word, "commercial? Maybe we could trade?"

"Oh, would you? That's very nice of you." He said with a large smile.

Now I had to catch a Jigglypuff and I knew just the bait.

!

I put the radio on speaker and hit the play button. Soon a hideous sound spread across the grassy areas at the foot of Mount Moon with a little crackling.

"Hit me baby one more time…"

Blaster kicked me.

"I know dude, but it's obvious that guy wants a Jigglypuff that's commercial and I don't mean the Eminem way, but, unfortunately, Britney Spears, Lipsync and other gay bands."

I said it, but I didn't like it. Neither did Blaster and he wasn't the only one. Flutter came out of his pokéball and lied there in front of me. I had heard pokémon could do that, spontaneously leave their pokéball, but most of the time they had a reason for it, so why… huh? Slowly the shell of the Metapod started to crack and a Butterfree came out into the sunlight, spreading his wet wings. I had no idea why he evolved now, since I hadn't let him fight since we had left the centre. Maybe it was a slow reaction or something. He flapped his wings to check if they were dry enough and flew up against my radio. Or maybe he was also tired of Britney. Hi, I'm Tony, my pokémon don't evolve to get stronger, they evolve so they can complain about the music. Anyway, the radio fell and went silent. As I picked it up I heard a soft voice singing.

"Hit me baby one more time…"

That was no radio. That was a Jigglypuff. Not many people know the full potential of a Jigglypuff. It is valued by trainers because of its soothing melody it sings to lull pokémon to sleep, but it is a little known fact that Jigglypuff are actually mimickers. They can mimic sounds they hear and they especially appreciate music. Let them listen to a song long enough and they will sing the words. And this one was pretty fast. When my gang jumped him (I really had to name them, Hunter's League or something) it didn't know what hit it. I caught it with ease and fifteen minutes later I was in the possession of Lawrence. Or so I thought.

!

I had just caught the Jigglypuff when my cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Tony? This is professor Oak. I have some disturbing news for you."

"What is it?"

"Some men just came at my door, with a picture of you, asking me if I have seen you."

"A picture? What did you say?"

"That I didn't know you."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, there was something about them I didn't like. I think they were of Team Rocket."

"What? What business does Team Rocket have with me?"

"I have no idea, but they seem to be looking for you, if of course they were Team Rocket."

"Thanks, I'll keep my eyes open. And if it was Team Rocket, you better watch yourself also."

"I will. How are you doing?"

"Fine, I just caught a Jigglypuff to exchange and I'm ready to enter Mount Moon. So what did that picture look like."

"I think it was taken in Fushia in the Safari Park, but I'm not sure."

"I'll check out Fushia then. Thanks for the warning."

"You're welcome, please call me when you arrive in Cerulean."

"I will, goodbye."

I hung up the phone with a bad feeling. Why was Team Rocket looking for me, and why didn't that really surprise me? Was I that important or did I just have a big ego? I had no idea. But best is to be careful, either way Team Rocket was dangerous. But I could handle myself, I survived a shipwreck and stranded on a deserted island and I kept my cool. Even when I faced stronger foes like that pokémon master. I only lost my cool when I faced that wounded Pikachu. I don't know why, but I definitely lost it then. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I'm a bit reluctant to discover my past. Maybe I won't like the man I see in the mirror, especially if that man has my face.

!

I pushed the door of the pokécentre open, looking for that old geezer when I saw officer Jenny standing there. Apparently, she still had business there in the middle of nowhere, so I decided to say hey.

"Still here?"

She looked up from her notebook and smiled when she saw me.

"Unfortunately, yes." She sighed.

"What's the matter?"

"A couple of years ago Team Rocket tried to start a criminal organisation using pokémon, and one of their schemes was to obtain some fossils from Mount Moon. Thanks to a boy from Pallet town they only could take one, and we even were able to get that one back when we raided one of their hide outs in Veridian. But now it seems they are back and for some reason they are inside Mount Moon, we think it's for the same thing again."

"No problem, I can deal with them."

"Forget it, they all have pokémon from level 30 and more. You're no match for them."

If that was true, I wasn't. All my boys were fifteen at most. If I tried to go one on one, I would croak. So…

"Then I'll make sure they won't spot me."

"No, no one goes in or out Mount Moon until the SWAT gets here."

Fuck.

"So, what else does Team Rocket do? Or do they only steal fossils?" Hey, if I had something to do with Team Rocket, I might get as much information as possible.

"They're in all sort of criminal activities, from theft, of pokémon and other valuable items, to smuggling of rare pokémon and even narcotics."

"Narcotics? That doesn't sound very pokémon…y." Is that a word? I think so, but…

"They use certain grass pokémon, especially a Vileplume."

"Hey, there was this kid that asked if I had a Vileplume."

"What? Where?" she nearly dropped her notebook.

"In Pewter," I answered and… fuck, that guy must have thought I was a dealer! Do I fucking look like a dealer? Fuck this shit man, I should kick his ass, "light brown hair, shoulderlength, kinda pale, average height, uhm…"

"I think I know who you mean. I'll quickly send in…" she took her walkie-talkie but saw the batteries were dead, "fuck, I took the wrong one, and of course the phone is out of order here."

"I have a cell phone." I tried to help.

"There's no reception this close to Mount Moon, I'll have to go back to Pewter myself," she ran towards the door, getting the keys of her motorcycle out, "oh, and Tony? Stay here."

Of course, I still had to trade that Jigglypuff.

!

A bit later I was walking out with Lawrence. There was a guy in Lavender Town that could change your pokémon's names so that was someone I had to see. Lawrence was tripling a bit before me and somehow, with absolutely no part of my own (honest), a small rock jumped away from under my foot and hit Lawrence which made him turn left, where coincidently the entrance to Mount Moon was. He turned around to shout at me, but a quick nod of my head made him silent and go on in his new path. As he walked towards the entrance he glanced back, looking if he had to do this, and I quickly nodded and urged him on. He quickly ran towards the cop in front of the cave, jumped passed him and disappeared in the darkness.

"Hey, come back!" I shouted and quickly motioned him back with my hand, hoping the cop wouldn't see it, because he really was coming back.

He quickly disappeared in the darkness again and left me standing outside next to the cop.

"Oh man, and I just got him." I whined.

"New pokémon?" the cop asked.

"Yeah, I traded him 'bout five minutes ago."

"Oh, traded pokémon huh?" Looks like the cop was a pokémon master, "always be careful with traded pokémon, since they don't always listen. Catch yer own, that's what I always say. So did my father by the way, he taught me that, to always catch yer own."

Yep, real pokémon master.

"Can I go get him, officer? I mean, I really want him, and I spend hours trying to catch the pokémon I needed to get him."

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, that's how much I wanted that one." I think I even pouted at this moment.

"Hm, okay, go inside and get him, but quickly. You're not supposed to be in there. And next time catch yer own, okay?"

I nodded, and ran inside. Faze one of my plan was complete, now faze two, not getting killed by Team Rocket.

!

AN: Sorry for the short delay, but I've been busy (and unfortunately not with my stories). And just when I think my life can't get any worse, I find out fanfiction won't allow my " ! " anymore for deviding my paragraphs (or the abreviation "F F. net" by the way). I mean, now it's just ! and that's just doesn't look the same!

Oh well, we'll live.


	10. Trouble at Mount Moon

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 10 – Trouble at Mount Moon

! 

I had retrieved Lawrence easily and was now slowly moving forward through the dark caves. I crept silently alongside the wall, trying to evade Zubats and Geodudes. Normally I would love to get my hands on a Geodude, but now I couldn't return to the centre to heal my pokémon and I still had to get past Team Rocket. I used my repel cautiously and avoided several people in the dark. I found a ladder going down with a little plaque saying 'roadmark' and I took the way down. Just as I reached the lower level I felt a hand on my shoulder. I squirmed.

"Ha-hah, I challenge you to a fight." A loud voice boomed.

This was strange. I turned around and saw this big guy with a large backpack standing before me.

"You're not Team Rocket?" I asked silently.

"What? No, I'm a hiker, on my way to Cerulean!"

"Could you please be a little bit more quiet?" I asked, "Team Rocket is said to have taken over this mountain and I don't want to attract any attention."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I didn't know, although that would explain why the roadmarks have been moved. The fiends, we must stop them."

Yes, we do, but first I have to get to the other side.

"Are you here to stop them?"

"Uhm, not really, but if we can slow them down, at the foot of Mount Moon the SWAT will arrive."

"Ha-hah," he laughed, "don't fight them but slow them down enough to get arrested. Good plan, what's your name?"

I told him my name and he told he was called Francis, "Franky for my friends". We decided to move on to Cerulean as quietly as possible (which was troublesome for Franky sometimes but this besides the point) and we almost reached the final level when some Rocket spotted us.

"Hold it, hands in the air and give me your pokémon."

Oh my God, these guys still pokénapped? Okay, that was a stupid word, they still stole pokémon?

"How can we give you our pokémon if our hands are in the air?" I asked.

You got to admit, a very logical question which has smartass written all over it. The Rocket didn't like that and let out his Meowth and Zubat. Just as he tried to grab me, Franky let out his Onix. It was even bigger than the one the trainer in Pewter had. Before the Rocket could react the Onix slammed the Meowth and Zubat against the wall with his tail and I hit him right on the chin. He came up, whipped his chin and looked enraged at me. Then Franky hit him on the side of the head with his full fist. I swear, I heard something crack. The Rocket fell down unconscious.

"Next time you hit him, knee him in the groin." Franky smiled while he called back his Onix.

"That went easily," I grinned, yep, I felt totally overconfident.

I even let out War to get catch a Geodude. Just one more level and I was homefree. And this lowlife henchman would stay here long enough to get caught by the cops, so Jenny got that. Everything was going perfect. Oh, how wrong I was…

! 

Just as we reached the last level I saw a few Rockets and some science guy packing some rocks. No way we could get past them unnoticed.

"Guess that's the way to delay them until the cops get here," I whispered to Franky who nodded, "what do you think, should we risk it?"

Franky got out his Onix who trashed one of the henchmen while he jumped the other one. I got out Blaster and War to kick the snot out of the nerd. Unfortunately we underestimated the strength of those Rockets and the one Franky was fighting hit him back. He got out a Weepingbell that whipped the Onix with his vines. The Onix fell down and didn't move anymore. Blaster could just avoid the vines but War was smacked to the wall. I didn't have any fire pokémon and nothing that could hurt a grass pokémon. I still had Lawrence, Flutter, Shocker and Sentinel. Maybe Blaster could divert him while the other made a full out attack… Fuck, what the fuck was that? Something just shocked Blaster! Fuck, that nerd got a Pikachu out! I'm totally fucked! I got Lawrence out who started to sing. He got the Weepingbell out, but he got hit by the Pikachu. Shocker ran along the wall and tackled the Pikachu while Flutter tried to poison him. The Pikachu sneezed and shocked Flutter out of the air. Well, at least it was poisoned. Sentinel jumped forward and tried to sink his claws in the Pikachu, to be brought of course by a vine shooting out. Fuck, that Weepingbell woke up and Lawrence wasn't recovered enough from that bolt to lull him to sleep again. Suddenly a Sentret came out of nowhere and started to pound on the Weepingbell. Lawrence ran towards him and started hitting him also. Quickly the Weepingbell dropped down and stayed down. I glanced to Franky who shrugged and let out an embarrassed smile. Who was I to judge. Well, we just had a Pikachu now with still Lawrence, Sentinel, and Shocker in play. And with Franky's Sentret we had a chance. Of course the Sentret got shocked. Shocker bit the Pikachu in the hind legs and Sentinel tackled him head on. The Pikachu shocked in return but Lawrence kicked him in the stomach and the Pikachu went down. Alright, we won, cool. Then the nerd grinned and let out a Voltorb. He rolled up to Shocker and jumped against him. Shocker fainted. Fuck. Only Lawrence was against him now and just as he opened his mouth to start his lullaby, the Voltorb started glowing.

"That's right, Volty," the science geek grinned, "blast them to kingdom come, heheheh."

Fuck!

"Lawrence get him away!" I yelled, but Lawrence didn't know what to do.

A sudden burst of water hit the Voltorb and send him rolling back into a small pit. He blew up without doing much damage. I looked back and saw Blaster standing there, doing his best not to fall over. He wiped off his mouth and grinned or at least tried to. I triumphantly turned to the science geek who whimpered away.

"So, what's so important for Team Rocket here?"

"The fossils, we lost them again." He whispered.

"That's right," I nodded, "give 'em up."

"Hah, you're only alone," he laughed, "and there's four fossils and then the amber."

"The amber I can carry alone, and Franky and me can carry two fossils. That leaves you with only two fossils."

The science geek sunk back.

"Woah-hoaw," Franky interrupted me, "I'm not sure what I can do with a fossil like that."

Fucking great, the science nerd regained his cool and knew Team Rocket would leave with at least three of those fossils. Blaster let out a cry that made us look up. He lit up in a bright light and evolved into a Wartortle. He walked towards the fossils and picked them up.

"Come on Franky, if we can get out with two more fossils we'll set Team Rocket back for I don't know how far. And wasn't that what you wanted?"

Franky thought about this for a second and slowly nodded.

"Okay, I'll take it."

"WE'll take it." I heard a voice say.

Fuck, more Rocket henchmen? I turned around and saw to my relief officer Jenny with the SWAT team.

"Tony, why am I not surprised?" she sighed.

"Hey, I stopped that Rocket guy." I tried.

"You did, and we're grateful. But I'm afraid you'll have to leave those fossils here for us to collect."

Fuck.

"Okay, I'll leave them. Blaster, drop it."

Blaster dropped the fossil while the cops came and arrested the Rockets. Jenny came standing next to me and looked me in the eye.

"Sorry Jenny, I fucked up, but I had to get into Cerulean. Professor Oak called and said some strange guys were after me. They gave him the impression I came from Fushia, so I wanted to go to Fushia as soon as possible. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"What else didn't you tell me?"

Before I could answer one of the SWAT came reporting her something.

"I'll deal with you later, go to Cerulean and stay there until I get there."

I promised. I didn't want to get on her bad side, not after she risked so much for me so far. I liked her, I really did. She was one of my new friends, next to Oak and now Franky (say Allan and I'll deck you).

"So, I guess it's up to the both of us to reach Cerulean, hey, Franky?"

"Sorry Tony, but I think I'll go back to Pewter for some refuelling and go see my mother again."

Franky, the tough hiker with his pet Sentret and a soft spot for his mother. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it doesn't really fit the picture.

"Okay, dude, see you later."

We shook hands and exchanged phone numbers. I went to the small doorway leading to the exit outside and left the SWAT team. I had survived Mount Moon and now it was all downhill to Cerulean.


	11. Going downhill too fast

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 11 – Going downhill too fast

! 

I stretched and arched my back when I emerged in the sun light on the other side of Mount Moon. There was no apparent road from the cave but a few meters down, a small trail began. I jumped down the ledges, carefully looking I didn't place my feet at the wrong place and I reached the trail easily. When I looked up, I saw there was no way I could get back into Mount Moon this way, so I either found another way back in, or I continued to Cerulean. Of course I continued to Cerulean. A few ledges further the trail began to grow wider and my surroundings more open. I felt good so when I saw two men coming up from the other side, I raised my hand to greet them. One of them reached in his long black coat and then I remembered Oak's warning about those two Rockets who had been at his door. I jumped of the road just before he started shooting. I slid down the rocks, causing a small avalanche and tried to find some cover from these guys. I had no idea who they were, but that didn't mean I was going to let myself be shot! I found a small alcove under a rock and hid in there while falling stones indicated my pursuers were close behind. I hoped they hadn't seen me duck in here or I was toast.

"Fuck! He's gone!"

"Why did you have to start shooting? I don't think the boss wants him dead!"

"Because of Marc, the bastard caused the whole operation to fail and almost had Marc caught, remember?"

"Yes he did, but…"

"But nothing, I'm not gonna kill him, I'm just gonna make sure he won't be running away anymore."

That was comforting.

"Hey, I'm not against hurting him, but you should have waited until he was closer."

"He would have recognised us, I even think he did now."

"Possible, but… oh man, where the fuck is that little asshole?"

"You check that way, I go this way, he can't be far."

I heard them leave and waited another five minute to get out (okay, so maybe it was a minute, but I really don't have much patience. I ran where I thought Cerulean was and jumped down a ledge and twisted my ankle. I cursed, fell down and hoped nobody was around.

"Come out, you little fucker, so we can take you back! I've had enough of this."

Fuck, so much for nobody being around. Lawrence came out of his pokéball and jumped around, drawing the Rocket away.

"A Jigglypuff? But they don't come out on this side of Mount Moon, and our boy isn't really a collector, so what the fuck is going on here?" the Rocket with the long coat said.

I managed to circle him while he looked at Lawrence and I jumped him from behind. He dropped the gun and it fell of the ledge. Fucking great, now I had to take him on, man-to-man. He threw me against a rock and I even thought I heard something crack. He advanced on me and I knew I should have gotten a new knife. Just as he was to hit me, Lawrence jumped up and kicked the back of his knee. He got down on one knee and I kicked him in the face with my bad foot. I cried out in pain, but I recovered fast and pounded him in the face. He fell down and I fell next to him. I wanted to know who this guy was, so I tried to get up, and hit him in the face again. I took off his coat, hoping there was something of interest in it. I couldn't help myself and spat on his trimmed head. There, you fuckin' army loser dweeb or something. Fuck, I needed a place to crash, a safe place to crash. I got up, called Lawrence back and ran on with the black trenchcoat, direction (or so I was hoping) Cerulean.

! 

"Hey buddy, are you a trainer? I challenge… hey, are you alright?"

! 

I woke up in a soft bed in a white room which I thought was a good sign. I was stripped down to my boxers and t-shirt. My clothes were nowhere in sight, which I thought was a bad sign. I lifted the sheets to get a look at my ankle. A bandage was around it and it didn't hurt anymore. I got up and tried to stand on it. It could support my weight as long as I didn't overdo it. A quick inspection of the room showed me I was on the third floor (so much for jumping out of the window) and I saw some buzzer next to my bed. I pushed the button and paranoid as I am, waited next to the door, hopefully out of sight of whomever entered the room. Luckily for me it was a nurse.

"What? Where…" she looked around and saw me behind the door, "that's not nice, scaring me like that."

"I'm sorry, but if you knew how I got here…"

"As a matter of fact I do know," she said firmly, "you seem to have taken quite a fall and a trainer brought you here."

"Can I leave now?"

"It is best you stay here and rest a bit more."

"But first I have to do something."

"I'm sure that can wait until you've healed enough."

"I'm afraid not."

"You will rest!" she said with a tone that dared me to oppose her.

"Fine, I will rest, but could I make a phone call first?"

"Fine," she sighed and went outside to get me my cell phone.

"Could you tell me the number of the police station please? It has something to do with me pulling a knife at the nurse of Pewter."

Her face drew pale and she grabbed my phone and quickly left the room, firmly shutting my door. I couldn't help but crack a smile, despite the fact I was now unwillingly breaking the law. I sat back down on the bed and looked through the window since I had nothing better to do. Was it my imagination or did that plant down the street move? Yep, it moved! My hand shot down to grab my pokéde… fuck. I looked up when I heard the door open. Officer Jenny from Pewter came inside, along with a policewoman that looked similar to her (probably another niece of her).

"So Tony, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" she asked with a small grin.

"Get me my clothes back and that coat I had with me and I'll tell you everything I know." I sighed.

! 

Fifteen minutes later we sat down in the restaurant at the pokécentre and I just had told officer Jenny what professor Oak had told me on the phone and what happened to me when I left Mount Moon. I showed her the picture I had found in that guy's coat.

"I don't know much about pokémon, but it is possible it is that safari park in Fushia," she said after examining it closely, "are you going there?"

I nodded as I put the picture in my wallet.

"I'm planning on finding out who I am and why they are after me."

"If you need any help, call me."

I glanced over to her and smiled.

"Now that I think of it, you haven't even told me your name, I know your niece from Viridian is Katie, but yours…"

"It's Susan, but you can call me Sue." She replied with a smile.

"Well, Sue, if I ever need your assistance, I'll let you know."

"Fine, I'll then call my nieces to help you out."

Eh?

"So in case of trouble with the law, they can give me the benefit of the doubt." I tried.

"Exactly." She nodded.

Fuck, should have thought she meant something like this. Great, just because a beautiful woman offers me her help professionally I think she's flirting with me. Good going Tony.

"Anyway," I tried to fill up the akward silence (well, it was akward to me), "I saw some interesting pokémon outside, or at least I think that was a pokémon so I guess I'll try to catch some, since that's what I do."

"Fine," she suddenly seemed startled a bit, "you do that. I, eh, I should go too, the research team on Team Rocket is here and all the perps from Mount Moon are there and I should go check it out, see if there's anything they can tell me."

"Fine." I reacted and got up after a small nod as a goodbye. When I made my way to the door, I turned one last time and held up my hand as I opened the door and left the pokécentre. It was time to go get some pokémon.

! 

This blew. Chunks. Big chunks. I've been here for over three hours and I've caught nothing. I had kicked some trainer ass but no wild pokémon. How come there are no pokémon here?

"Hey dude, wanna battle? Oh it's you."

I turned around and saw Chubby. I didn't know his real name, but I had decided to call him chubby since I didn't know what else to call him. He wasn't really fat, but he was well rounded, so to speak. He was one of the first trainers I had clocked and he wasn't too happy about it. Maybe I should have called him Grumpy? Anyway, he sat down next to me in the grass and started whistling some horrible tune.

"Dude, I'm trying to get some pokémon." I told him.

"Well good luck, it's still day, there's no way there's a Gloom coming out now."

"Gloom?"

"Yeah, what kind of pokémon trainer are you? Glooms only come out at night."

"Isn't there anything else?"

"In the summer there are some Weepingbells, but now they're hibernating in the ground, with the cold and all, because it IS winter you know."

Strange, but after my whole stranded situation and swimming in ice cold water, these near zero degrees Celcius don't seem as chilly as I remember. Well, you know what I mean.

"I've had colder, so there's bound to be a Weepingbell around here somewhere, I saw one when I was at the hospital."

"So you're that guy that came all messed up from Mount Moon." He grinned.

"My ankle was sprain and my shoulder was bruised. Nothing that's permanent. In fact my shoulder is feeling much better already."

"And you're ankle?"

"I'll live."

I looked around, in a futile effort to find any pokémon, but to no avail.

"Fuck this. Isn't there anything else here?"

"Sandshrews, but they as well only come out in summertime."

"What about the gymleader?" I asked.

"Three gorgeous babes," Chubby grinned, "use water pokémon. So don't bring out rock or fire. Best thing to do is grass or electric."

I took out two pokéballs and let Shocker and Shockrat out.

"That means you two."

"Wow, you have two Pikachu?" Chubby's eyes grew wide.

I just nodded and grinned as they suddenly sniffed the air and ran off.

"What the?" I muttered as electric jolts buzzed through the air.

I ran off with chubby right behind as they tried to zap a creature similar to they but with scales on his back. A Sandshrew. I grabbed another pokéball and threw it.

"That won't do," Chubby said, "Sandshrews aren't affected by electric attacks, it's still at full health. He'll easily dodge it."

And indeed, the Sandshrew saw the ball coming and jumped back so it landed right in front of him. The ball opened and out came Lawrence who kicked him in the face. The Sandshrew didn't see that one coming and was thrown back. Shocker and Shockrat both jumped forward and sandwiched the Sandshrew. I reached under my coat and took an empty pokéball. With a satisfied grin I caught a Sandshrew at the time they were considered rare. Damn I'm good.


	12. The battle of the century

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 12 – The battle of the century

! 

It was about three in the morning when I returned to my room in the pokécentre. Man I was beat. Since Chubby told me the trainer (or trainers) used water pokémon so I had spent a lot of time training my pokémon, and especially Shocker and Shockrat. In the process I caught a Oddish since enough popped out after sunset, but of course I looked for the one that put up the hardest fight, but then again, it's a radish on feet. Luckily, and I use that term relatively, I had found one that putted almost all my pokémon asleep and taunted me. I was able to catch it with Sparrow and a lot of luck. Anyway, that was all behind me and I really needed some sleep. Just as my head hit the pillow, loud techno music emerged from the next room. Oh, this was gonna be a long night.

! 

It was three in the afternoon when I got up (not that I had slept for twelve hours, no far from it). I think I slept all the way from my room to the hall of the centre. When I got there, I looked if I saw Sue anywhere, unfortunately there was someone else I knew.

"Tony, hey, over here, Tony, it's me, Allan, hey, what's up?"

Fuck.

"Hey, Allan, didn't see you there." I tried to grin.

"Really? I waved," he said with a straight face, God, how can anyone be this naïve? "Hey, I heard about some guy who got beat up at Mount Moon by Team Rocket, that was you, right?"

"You make it sound like that's a good thing. Besides, how did you know it was me?"

"So it was you! I didn't really know, but I thought it was something you would do, like what you did in Pewter, you know? Man, fighting Team Rocket, how cool is that?"

"Pretty cool if you survive," I said truthfully, "what are you doing here anyway?"

"I have some family living here, fortunately I got through Mount Moon before Team Rocket got there."

Yeah, fortunately.

"So, we never really got a chance to battle before," Allan smiled, "maybe we can have one now!"

He checked his pokéballs and his face clouded.

"Oh no, not again, he's gone again!"

"Anyway," I decided to cut the conversation short, "I have to go, I still have my pokémon to train for the fight against the trainer and I have to see a friend of mine."

I got up and gone while Allan still checked his bag. I didn't now who was gone and I couldn't care less. Allan's a loser and I didn't wanna see him again. End of story.

! 

I wandered around Cerulean looking for Susan and finally found her close to the bridge leading to the estate of Bill Masters, worlds renounced pokémon collector.

"Hey, Sue," I greeted her but saw her face looked troubled, "what's the matter?"

"I shouldn't really be telling you this, but since you're involved," she hesitated one brief second, "those Rockets from the cave weren't Rockets, but a new group called the Dark Squad."

"Who are they?"

"Basically the same as Team Rocket, and mostly of old Rockets, but they intend to take over the criminal activities of Team Rocket, by force."

"I didn't know Team Rocket had any other activities besides criminal." I joked.

"This is serious, Tony, like Team Rocket alone wasn't enough."

"What will happen to those fossils?"

"You still want one, don't you?" Finally she cracked a smile.

"They will go to the lab at Foam Islands where scientist will try to revive them and reintegrate them into the pokémon world."

"I can help them reintegrate…"

"Forget it, hotshot. You're not getting near them."

What? It wasn't like I was trying to steal them or something. I knew I had no shot at those fossils, I was just joking around, really.

"Hey, if you need help against that Dark Squad…"

"Yeah, sure, I would appreciate that, but no such stunts like in Mount Moon, okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't, I promise. It was a lot harder than I thought, and I'm sorry for it."

"You better believe it. Anyway, I should be heading back to Pewter. Maybe I'll see you later."

"Maybe!" I raised my hand to say goodbye and saw her leave.

Just as she had turned the corner I saw something. That Weepingbell I saw when I woke up in the hospital! I'm sure it was the same I saw when I came home this morning. And now it was here again! I ran towards it but just as I reached the corner of the street, somebody else did as well. We landed on the ground, hard!

"Fuck, I'm sorry, miss," I suddenly recognised the redhead I had collided with, "Angela?"

"Well, Tony, I had a feeling we would meet again," she smiled as I helped her up, "I just didn't think we would get so close."

To be honest, what I had in mind by meeting again was a bit closer, but for some reason I didn't think it was appropriate to say that out loud. I looked over her shoulder and saw the Weepingbell was gone.

"I'm sorry, I was trying to catch up to something and I wasn't looking were I was going."

"It's okay, I was in a hurry myself," she looked at me with seductive eyes, "but since you came along, how about a drink?"

"Now's not really a good time," I lied, "I really should be going, I still have a lot to do."

I don't know why but suddenly that feeling from Pewter was back, the feeling that I couldn't completely trust her.

"That's okay, maybe next time."

"When we will meet again, right?" I smiled.

"Exactly." She nodded and turned to walk towards the bridge.

Damn, she had a nice ass. Other stuff, Tony. Okay, nice legs as well. That's not what I had in mind. I forced myself to turn and look the other way in search of that Weepingbell. It was nowhere in sight and I had no other choice but to go out in the wilderness and fight some trainers, hoping I would see that Weepingbell again, I knew that sucker would be mine.

! 

"Hey Tony!"

Fuck! And I had just returned to the pokécenter to get something to eat.

"I found him again, so wanna battle now?"

"Okay, Allan," I caved, "but first let me refresh my pokémon and then we can get to business."

"Alright!"

Yeah, sure, whatever. I had no fucking idea who he had found again, and again, I didn't care. I dropped my pokémon off by the nurse and looked if I should take replacements. Hey, I still had that Pikachu for Allan, maybe if I give it to him he'll leave me alone! Yeah, fat chance, maybe if he promised to leave me alone I would give it to him, no strings attached, well, no strings, except where he never bothers me again, but no other strings. You get the point, so shut up.

! 

We stood opposed to each other as two mighty gladiators, waiting for the other to make the first move and then to quickly counteract before the other had a choice to react (translation: Allan had just bought me a drink while I scared some kids away so we could have enough place to battle). We had agreed on a battle with each just three pokémon as I had better things to do.

"To go first," Allan thought deeply, "I take…"

His hands hovered above his pokéballs. Right next to us there were some kids battling as well.

"I choose you Pikachu!" one of them shrieked with so much enthusiasm you would think he was on prozac.

"I choose you?" Allan frowned, "that's the dumbest line I've ever heard."

I had to agree with the little retard, hey, maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought.

"Go go Electrode…"

Okay, I spoke too soon.

"…some kid in my hometown used to say," he continued, "and I thought that was pretty dumb, but I choose you Pikachu?"

Okay, I spoke too soon when I said I spoke too soon, but now I had to speak before that kid needed plastic surgery to remove his frown when he had overheard Allan.

"Allan? Let's forget that little dweeb and focus on our combat? I promise we'll make fun of the runt later."

What? I thought the kid needed plastic surgery anyway.

"Hm? Oh yeah, I choose, oh damn thank you very much, you little idiot, I take my Poliwag first."

"As my first pokémon," I stated in a deep voice, while I held up his pokéball high in the air "I take the master of electric and speed!"

My hand shot forward while I yelled in the faggot voice of the little snot "I choose you Pikachu" and Shocker jumped out holding out his hands to make the victory sign.

Several kids around us tried their best not to burst out in laughter (some even succeeded).

"Anyway," I brought peace back to our little fight, "my Shocker's gonna kick you Polliwag's wet little ass."

"I don't think so," Allan grinned, "Vertigo, hypnosis!"

The Poliwag started to move around and Shocker fell. Huh?

"Haha! I didn't think I would win this easily, Vertigo, watergun."

Vertigo had turned him to Allan, nodded and turned back to see a grinning Shocker in front of him. He squealed as Shocker hit him right between the eyes. An electric shock finished of the job. Allan pouted and called his Poliwag back. His second choice was a Geodude. I called back Shocker and brought out War. His bubble brought that Geodude down quick but just as he was to give the finishing blow, Allan shouted "Self destruct". The Geodude flickered and War was just too late to jump out of the way when the Geodude exploded. He tried to stand but I knew he was gonna fall. I got out his pokéball and he let out a cry. In a bright light he evolved into a Wartortle as well but I shook my head.

"You're in no condition to fight again, dude, you know that don't you?"

He hung his head and fell down. I brought him back to his pokéball and called out my own Geodude, Rock, the one I had caught in Mount Moon.

"But now I have you," he grinned as he held up a pokéball, "go Flycatcher, take him out."

I couldn't fucking believe it! It was that Weepingbell! The one I was looking for and that little runt had it. How the fuck?

"Flycatcher, vinewhip!"

Flycatcher looked around.

"Come on, not now." Allan pleaded.

The Weepingbell still didn't do anything.

"Uhm, something wrong Allan," I asked while I tried not to laugh.

"It was a gift from my uncle here in Cerulean but he doesn't listen to me."

"That's too bad," I nodded with compassion, "but still, Rock, tackle him."

The Weepingbell jumped out of Rock's way and vinewhipped his ass. Fuck, he was strong. I brought Shocker back into the game and he cautiously waited until the Weepingbell would make a move. It remained motionless with apparently more interest in the wall of the pokécenter than his opponent.

"Come on!" Allan pleaded.

Shocker jumped forward but Flycatcher just evaded his attack. He tried to shock him, but the Weepingbell dodged every bolt. Flycatcher let out his vines but Shocker dodged them as easily. It was clear the two pokémon wouldn't be able to land a punch.

"Let's call it a draw." I proposed.

Allan just nodded.

"I can't believe he still doesn't obey me, he keeps running away and all."

"Hey, you know what?" a diabolical thought emerged, "I happen to have a Pikachu I don't need, and you have a weepingbell you can't use."

"Would you trade it with me?" his eyes brightened so much I thought I would have went blind if I had looked directly into them, "would you do that for me?"

"Sure," I grinned, "let's go inside and close the deal, okay?"

Ten minutes later Allan was happy he got a retarded Pikachu ("and such a cute one!") and I had a fighting Weepingbell ready for the battle with the trainer. I'm evil, I know, but isn't that why you love me?

! 

I stepped into the gym full of confidence and challenged the gymleader. I thought with my two electric pokémon and my newly acquired grass pokémon this would be a walk in the park. The oldest sister accepted my challenge and brought out a Starmie. I reacted with my newest big gun, Flycatcher.

"Flycatcher, vinewhip!"

Flycatcher didn't do anything. The Starmie shot her watergun and hit him straight in the face. Flycatcher ignored this and started studying the wall. The Starme tackled him and again the grass pokémon didn't do anything. I returned him to his pokéball while I cursed Allan (more than usual). He just broke free and returned to the battle field to do nothing.

"Looks like you pokémon doesn't really listen, guess you really need this badge." The gymleader laughed.

I had no idea what she was talking about but I had to do something.

"Oh my God, what is that? Are you trying to cheat? That's not fair!" I shouted and pointed behind her. The gymleader, her Starmie and my Weepingbell turned around, as expected, to see what I was talking about. I quickly brought out Sabretooth and he tackled Flycatcher. I quickly brought the Weepingbell back to his pokéball and this time he stayed there. The gymleader looked back with suspicion in her eyes. Sabretooth just sat there just like he had sat there all the time.

"Sorry, my mistake, I thought I saw something." I mumbled while my fingers ran over my pokéballs ready to bring out Shocker.

"Starmie, tackle!" she shouted.

The Starmie flew to my Rattatta but he jumped out of the way and sunk his teeth deep in its arms.

"Sabretooth," I grinned, "kick his ass… if it has one of course," I added after some thought, "if not, kick it anyway."

The Starmie saw it was no match for the ferocious Rattatta in close combat and tried to get some distance between them but Sabretooth was biting and clawing the poor water pokémon at everything the little critter could get a hold of.

"Starmie, watergun!" the gymleader shouted, "all over the place!"

The Starmie started to whirl around and squirt water all over the place. Sabretooth was hit by these blasts and thrown against the wall. The Starmie was barely standing but was stronger now he was away from Sabretooth. I called him back and brought out Raddish, my new Oddish.

"So, you gonna try with grass pokémon again?" the gymleader smiled mockingly.

"Raddish, sleep powder."

The Oddish began jumping around, spreading his spores around the arena while the Starmie tried to hit him with one of his water blasts but to no avail. After a while the Starmie fell down, heavily snoring. I raised a pokéball and brought Sabretooth back.

"Kick him when he's down, boy."

I'll spare you the gruesome details but she brought out her Staryu when Starmie stopped moving. I, of course, also changed pokémon and brought out Shocker. The Staryu waved around, waiting for orders. Shocker sat ready to jump, his cheeks sparking. Just as the gymleader opened her mouth to say something, Shocker jumped forward, throwing lightning bolts all over the place. The Staryu was shocked and paralysed and completely defenceless when Shocker tackled him. He kept hitting on the poor Staryu and shocking him until he stopped moving. The gymleader called him back and declared me the victor. She also said I was the most brutal pokémon trainer she had ever met, like I was the one who beat up her pokémon. But anyway, I had my second badge and apparently I had earned the respect of Flycatcher so he would do as I say. I tested that and no, sorry, no such luck. Fuck. But at least I could go to Saffron and from there to Vermillion to get some information on any ships that started with the letter A and had an accident in the last week. I was getting somewhere.


	13. Bill

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

Chapter 13 – Bill

It was still a long way to Saffron and I didn't have any transportation. There was a bike ship in town but you wouldn't believe what that guy charges for a motorcycle, let alone a measly bike! I even toyed with the idea of giving an anonymous tip to the police that it's really a Team Rocket hide out, but since that wouldn't give me any means of transportation I didn't. But still, with those prices! Asshole.

So I decided to hike, much against my dismay. Saffron was a big city so you would think they could have a train station or something, but no, you had to walk the way over. Fucking assholes. I followed the little plaques marking the way down the road when I saw this little sign pointing to a trail. It said "Daycare (soon to be Breeder)". I was curious. I knew what a daycare centre was, that where you leave little kids and stuff (stuff being other little kids) but if I was not mistaking, breeding was that got you little kids and stuff (now this stuff can mean other things than little kids, that's why you always have to use a condom… except when you are trying to get little kids… or stuff, I have no idea how fucked up you are, no offence). Anyway, I followed the trail and arrived at a small cabin with a large yard where a lonely Clefairy pranced around a tree. I knocked on the door and a guy, slightly older than me opened the door.

"Are you here to leave any pokémon?" he asked hopefully.

"Dude, I went through a lot of trouble getting them, I'm not leaving anything."

"I meant so I could take care of them, of course! You'll get them back eventually. What are you, a retard?"

Hey, I suffer from amnesia, okay? Fuck off, how was I supposed to know!

"Oh, sorry, uhm, no, I'm keeping them."

"Never mind," the guy sighed, "ever since that couple of old dweebs opened their daycare centre in Johto, everyone goes there."

"Are they better?"

"No, but they have more room than me, and they breed the pokémon they get, making it very profitable for them."

"That's why the sign says, soon to be breeder." I nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't have an Ditto and since some idiot dropped off his Clefairy here so I can't leave and go catch one."

Opportunity knocked.

"You know what? I'll go catch you a ditto, but it will cost you."

"Figures, what?"

I looked at the guy closely while I thought of my price. Obviously this guy wasn't an idiot like Allan or even Chubby. His blue eyes glared at me with caution while he stroke his blond hair back. He was only slightly smaller than me but something told me this guy would stand his ground if the occasion arose.

"All of the breeding you have to do for me, is free." I said when I had made up my mind.

He tilted his head slightly when he thought about this.

"Deal!"

I sat in a beach chair next to the pond with my pokémon running around, chasing the Clefairy, while Alex, the daycaretaker or whatever he's called, brought me a coke. A Magikarp came up to see what was going on.

"My one and only pokemon." He nodded.

"Dude, that's lame." I grimaced.

"I know, but wanna know what's really lame?" He sat down next to me.

"Smaug, tackle!"

The Magikarp jumped up and tackled the Clefairy. It fell down and started crying.

"Okay, that was fucking lame," I had to agree, "it doesn't belong to a guy called Allan would it?"

"No, but I think the owner has a cousin who's called Allan."

Ah.

"I didn't even know Magikarp had a tackle attack."

"They don't but they learn one after some combat experience."

"That has to be hard."

"It is. It was no problem when this place was still booming. I let it fight with several pokémon and withdrew it so another one could finish the fight. That way it fought and learned."

"And didn't lose." I nodded, I understood his strategy.

"But now," he sighed, "ever since those fucking old people in Johto, my dad left and I've taken over the business, people stopped coming. And if you want to raise pokémon you need at least two, so you can let them fight."

"You let them fight?"

"Sure, fighting is a way of life for them. Survival and all. I don't let them fight like trainers of course, but small fights, skirmishes, actually. But with only my Magikarp I can't provide much variation and that Clefairy's a loser. He hasn't even won a single fight, not even when I ordered Smaug to lose."

"Why do you call him Smaug anyway? I mean, Smaug is a mean dragon and that's, well, an oversized goldfish."

"Because, my friend, a Magikarp evolve into Gyarados and that IS a mean dragon. Okay, he doesn't fly and still lives in the water, but that's as close as you can get to Tolkien's puppy."

"No kidding? I have to get me a Magikarp."

"Magikarp is the most underrated pokémon there is, my friend. Lousy at first, but a heavy hitter if he evolves."

"You mean when he evolves, right?"

"If. A weak pokémon easily kicks the bucket, and a Magikarp is weak. That's why you have to withdraw him from a fight as soon as possible. Only a good trainer can evolve a Magikarp."

Fuck, and I wasn't a trainer. But still, I was gonna try it.

"Where can I get one?"

"If you have a fishing rod, everywhere. If you don't…" He shrugged.

"I don't have a fishing rod and I wouldn't know…" I fell silent just as War kicked my shin, "oh yeah, could you guys get me a Magikarp?"

War and Blaster nodded enthusiastically and grinned.

"A life one?"

They looked at each other and nodded again slowly but quickly faster with even more enthusiasm which made me a bit suspicious.

"Well, at least you could try to get a life one." I sighed.

"So, you're on your way to Saffron?" Alex asked.

"For the moment. I'm gonna go check out the place and then move on to Vermillion to then go to Fushia."

"Long way," he whistled, "by the way, did you check out Bill's house?"

"Bill Masters is a pokémon hotshot, why on earth would he ever see me?"

"He gets a lot of visitors, most of them to check out his collection, and I've heard he's still looking for rare pokémon."

"Okay, maybe I should check him out. You never know I can get a deal there."

"Hey, if you catch some legendary pokémon, drop by first."

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"If I have a ditto, I can breed with it, and then have a legendary pokémon," he shrugged, "I could sell it and make a lot of money."

"Well, I have to catch rare pokémon for the pokéleague which they intend to breed with, maybe I can drop your name as breeder so you can be the official pokéleague breeder or something."

"Interesting," Alex thought aloud, "that would be good advertisement and soon those two fossils in Johto will wish they had stayed in retirement. I like it. You're on."

"Well then," I stated as I got up and gathered my pokémon, "I'll return to Cerulean to visit Bill Masters and then go search your ditto. It's somewhere around Fushia, isn't it? Perfect, that's where I intend to end up. I love it when a plan comes together." I grinned and wished I had a cigar.

Okay, this is getting fucking boring, going back and forth all the places I just have been (AN: I have to agree), first from Pallet to Viridian to Pewter to Viridian to Pallet to Viridian to Pallet and now from Cerulean to halfway Saffron and now back to Cerulean, this fucking sucks (AN: I have to agree). It's like my life is being directed by some crazy sadistic motherfucker (AN: I have to agr… HEY! I resent that remark! It may be true, but I still resent it). If I'm doomed to return to all the places I've already been, I'm gonna need some wheels, preferably a motorcycle (AN: I get the hint, I'm working on it). I dropped in at the police station to report I was back in town and that I was heading to the residence of Bill Masters.

When I crossed the bridge I was challenged by some guys I easily defeated. At the end of the bridge there was some guy who wanted to recruit me for Team Rocket. I punched him in the face and he went down. Pussy. I followed the path to this huge villa on the edge of the cliff looking over an overcast sea. Several people were at the railing, looking through some telescope.

"What's going on here?" I asked a tubby guy in a hawaiian shirt with a pair of binoculars that made the telescope look like a monocle.

"This is the site where Bill saw that mysterious pokémon a couple of years ago. He has no idea what pokémon it is and he's dying to find out. And maybe we can catch a glimpse of it."

I looked at the plaque next to the telescope. There was the silhouette of the pokémon Bill saw. I got out my pokédex and started shifting through the pages.

"Hah, you think you can find it that easily?" the tourist laughed, "there are more than 250 different pokémon, there's no way you can tell which one it is."

Of course there was a way, a very easy way. The plaque stated the pokémon was a large creature with wings, so I asked for all flying pokémon and dropped the small ones. It was just a manner of minutes to find it. I grinned at the tourist and turned around to go to Bill's house. I told the man at the information desk that I knew that pokémon Bill had seen and I wanted to tell him.

"Yeah right, you guys try everything to meet the great Bill Masters."

"I'm not just any guy, call professor Oak and ask him to make an appointment with Bill for Tony Hunter."

The clerk hesitated. I sighed, and got out my cellphone. I dialled Oak's number and gave my phone to the clerk. He accepted it and placed it to his ear.

"Hello, this is Oak, Tony? Is that you?"

"Uhm, no, this is the clerk at the information desk of Bill's house, uhm, are you really THE professor Oak?"

"Yes, I am and I'm quite busy for the moment, so please state you business or be gone, you're wasting my time."

"Uhm, this Tony Hunter wants an appointment with Bill…"

"Then give him one, for God's sake."

"Okay."

The clerk gave me back my phone with a shocked look on his face. I grinned as he buzzed me into the private part of the villa. A young man was sitting behind a laptop with several sketches of pokémon that were scattered across the room. He looked up and raised his eyebrows.

"Who are you?"

"Tony Hunter, and I believe I know who your mystery pokémon is you saw outside."

"Really? Please do tell me!" He jumped up and came towards me to guide me to a similar plaque like the one outside. I got out my pokédex and called up the information of Dragonite.

"A Dragonite…" he ran his fingers through his brown curly hair, "I thought that as well, but it wasn't orange, it was some dark colour."

"Well, isn't it possible that it had a different colour? I mean, Dratini and Dragonair are both darkblue pokémon and maybe this was a natural evolution?"

"Hmm, yes, yes," he nodded and ran back to his laptop to type in some things, "it could be, here it is, it is possible that some pokémon who evolve in the wild have different colours since they need these colours for survival, something captured pokémon no longer need. It could be that was a natural evolved Dragonite. Oh, how I like to add it to my collection."

"Uhm, excuse me?"

"Oh, no I couldn't, I collect rare pokémon, but not ones who are one of a kind, I could never capture it, but I would like to know where it is, so I can try to be friends with it."

"Hey, maybe I can help you with the rare pokémon, but that Dragonite, sorry, but I don't really think that's possible."

Bill looked up and stared at me not quite understanding what I meant. I explained to him I was a (beginning) pokémon hunter and I could maybe go out and catch rare pokémon for him, along with the pokémon I had to catch for the league. He slowly started to nod and rushed up to me to shake my hand.

"Yes, yes, if you could do that, I would be a happy man, of course, I will pay you good money for these pokémon, rest assured. I won't let them come to harm."

"You know, I know somebody who could breed them." I mentioned.

"Breed them? No, having one of each kind is enough for me. Can you go out and find some now?"

"Uhm, no, as I told you, I'm just beginning, and I know I still have a long way to go. But as soon as I'm ready for real business, I'll let you know and then you can send me a list of what critters you want."

"Very well, but still, let me thank you for identifying that pokémon for me. What can I give you that would help you in your quest? Money is no object, I have enough thanks to my patents on the pokémon storage system."

My eyes sparkled. No, I couldn't, that would be taking advantage of the man. But still, I figured, it wouldn't hurt to ask…

AN: Well, you got to admit, this isn't much of a cliff hanger, is it? That's why you will also get the next chapter this time (aren't I nice?). Oh, and somewhere in this chapter, there's a hint to a television series from the 80's. The first person who knows what series this is, receives the great honour of getting his name in this story! No, really, I won't just post you name in some AN but really include it in my story. After all, Alan's retarded Pikachu still needs a name.


	14. Limited Options

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 14 – Limited options

! 

Ah, Saffron city. Home of the Sylph company and psychic pokémon. I parked my brand new motorcycle at the karate gym and decided to wander around a bit. Now here there were good stores. Finally I could get my hands on some decent CD's. Apparently there was a huge mega store in Celadon but here you had the 'obscure' stores, the kind of stores you find the things that aren't yet mainstream or even completely underground as well as plain commercial, in other words, anything you want. And hey, didn't Susan tell me there were Growlithes here? That gave me another reason to return to Pewter and see the lovely officer again. But first I needed a Growlith for that. How hard could that be? But that had to wait until tomorrow, it had taken me a lot of time to walk to Alex and Bill I first was afraid I would have to spend the night in Cerulean, but now that I had my bike, I just rode to Saffron so at least I could sleep out. After a few inquiries I was able to find my way to the police station to inform those good people I had arrived. The automated glass doors opened before me and I entered the well lit police station. Behind the counter was not the nice female shape I got to know as another family member of officer Jenny. If this little goblin was related to Susan or Katie, I was to reconsider my whole relationship with Susan. Oh yeah, what relationship?

"What do you want?" the little critter behind the counter shrieked as he looked up from his computer screen.

I raised an eyebrow as I checked out the little mutt. His beady little eyes glared at me and his mouth was twisted in a crooked angry grin. A patch of blond hair grew on top of his head right between a couple of ears that seemed to jump out on the side.

"I'm Tony Hunter, I am to report to the police station each time I enter a new city."

"What on earth for?"

"Long story." Well, not really, but I didn't want to retell the tale to that… thing.

"Hm, I will find it out if you have to report… where are you staying?"

"At the pokécentre normally. If it changes I will come and tell you."

"Why don't you check in there, and if you get in, come and tell me, okay?"

"Uhm, okay."

The goblin leaned closer.

"I don't like you, there's something fishy about you and I'm gonna keep my eye on you."

Sure whatever.

"Uhm, okay, anything else?" I asked.

"Not for the moment, but stay close," The goblin sat back in his chair and motioned to the door, "now go the pokécentre and report back here."

I nodded and turned around. I quickly made my way to the pokécentre and reserved a room for the night. After I left all my stuff there I returned to the police station to inform the goblin were I was staying. I just hoped he wasn't gonna do anything with that information. When I exited the police station I greeted the arriving officer Jenny. Well, at least my night wasn't a complete bust.

! 

"Who was that?" Jenny asked Max.

The little cop twisted on his seat while he got some papers from the printer.

"Tony Hunter, bad news, I just printed his file."

He offered her the pages but she shook her head.

"I know who he is, Susan already told me about him. Don't give him a hard time, do you hear me, Max?"

Max grumbled and returned his attention to his computer screen.

"And why's that? It's damn obvious he's trouble, I mean, what person would pull a knife on a nurse?"

"There's more to him than you know, Max, more than you need to know."

! 

"Okay, that was something I needed to know."

The rocket threw his glass against the wall. The Persian that was in the corner of the room looked up.

"Fuck man, you knew we were looking for him, and you let him go?"

"Hey, you two guys had him and you also let him go." The guy in the smooth suit reacted.

"Don't fucking start." The trimmed rocket hissed.

"He had a lot of luck, getting a way from us," the blonde rocket shouted, "and now we have the luck of him walking in, practically gift-wrapped and you let him walk away?"

"He had a check signed by Bill Masters," the bike shop owner defended himself, "I think it would be a little suspicious if he came to buy a motorcycle and disappeared."

"Fuck that! He came in here yesterday as well and then you didn't do a thing. Nobody knew he was here and you let him walk out."

"I didn't know who he was."

"Everybody in town knew who he was. Come on man, your bike shop is the only Team Rocket hide out in Cerulean, we spend a lot of money in this shop, money that probably even wouldn't be necessary if you lowered your prices a bit, but you can at least can do something to earn that money."

The blonde rocket threw another glass against the wall.

"Fuck! Where is he now?"

"Saffron. We go after him?"

"I'm getting tired of this, you know?"

"So am I. But we're gonna have our payback."

"For what he did to Marc," the blonde rocket nodded, "we'll go to Vermillion, he's bound to stop there."

"To Vermillion it is then."

The two rockets gathered their stuff and left the bike shop with the Persian right behind. The shop owner started to clean up the glass left by the rockets.

"Damn rockets, and what did they mean by lowering my prices?"

! 

I slept in late the next day. I didn't really mean to but I thought I had earned it. I had arrived late and somewhere in the night I woke up when I heard a lot of sirens passing by. After I got up, I heard there had happened something at the Sylph company. I didn't know what it was, and I didn't really care. Hey, it had nothing to do with me, so… But first things first. I checked my finances and I decided to best get some more cash if I wanted to make some serious expenses. I of course head out of town to battle some trainers and sucker them out of their money. Well, that was the idea. Unfortunately with that thing at the Sylph company, there were roadblocks and lots of them. Apparently Team Rocket had broken into the company and stole some things. Well, it could also be the Dark Squad, since nobody knew of them yet. Either way, I didn't really care. Why you ask? Because I'm not stupid. If I can avoid guys like that, I will. I fought them at Mount Moon, but only because I had to pass. And don't forget those two guys who are after me, like they aren't trouble enough. No, I'll just try to get a Growlithe and be on my way to Vermillion.

! 

Fuck, just my rotten luck. The road to Celadon was blocked. Apparently the ones that broke into the Sylph company passed through there. And Growlithes could only be found on that road. Oh well, might as well go to Vermillion first.

! 

"What do you mean? Nobody can pass?"

"Like I'm telling you, nobody can pass!"

The goblin grinned as I cursed and looked defeated to the car wreck that blocked the path to Vermillion.

"Okay, then tell me, how can I get to Vermillion?"

"You wait," the little guy shrugged, "you'll have to wait until tomorrow when they tow the wreck away."

"Why can't they do it now?"

"Because everyone is on the road to Celadon due to the robbery."

I sighed. I looked one last time at the wreck blocking the road and shook my head. Hey, as Trent Reznor sang, I tried, I gave up. I turned my motorcycle and went the only way I had left, Lavender…

! 

Fuck, this was a little town. If it wasn't build next to a big mountain I would have passed it without noticing. Well, if you ignored that huge tower I would. Anyway, I had arrived in Lavender. Things of interest? Well, that huge tower obviously. Anything else? I had no fucking idea. What am I, a travel guide? Okay, first check out some pokémon and train. After about half an hour I had learned that the big tower was some sort of burial place for pokémon and everyone was too grieved to fight. Fuck. It's not like I wanna sound insensitive and disrespect those dead pokémon, but they're dead! Forget about them! I suddenly felt watched and glanced down. War and Blaster were staring at me and I sighed.

"Don't worry guys, when you… IF you die, I'm gonna bury you guys on the island I found you and not in some huge tower where there's such a media circus about dead pokémon."

The two Wartortles glanced at each other and decided I had a point somewhere. Somewhere. Oh well, I had nothing else to do, guess I could wander around town a little more.

! 

"Excuse me, you're a visitor, aren't you?"

Strange choice of words, but hey.

"Yes, I am. Who might you be?"

A small laughing bald man came nodding towards me.

"I'm Mr. Fuji. So, tell me, how do you like our little town."

"Well," I thought for a second, "little. There really isn't much around here."

"Well, there is the tower," he glanced me over, "you have seen the tower, haven't you?"

"My pokémon aren't dead yet, and I know no pokémon who are buried there, so I didn't really think I had any business there."

"Oh, but you should visit," he urged me, "if you're a trainer, you are a trainer, right?"

I nodded, "something like that, yes."

"Good, there's something you should know about it, come with me."

He guided me to the tower and we entered. He trailed me along the second floor and were on our way to the third as I suddenly saw something in the corner of my eye. Nothing.

"Saw something?" he smiled.

"Nah, thought I did, but… nah."

"Ah, you did," he nodded, "you see, the tower isn't really build to bury pokémon, but to gather ghosts."

"Ghosts?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, ghost pokémon. They aren't really ghosts but they do have sudden similarities to the folklore of real ghosts. And for some strange reason they seem to swarm a place were the dead are gathered."

"This tower." I said.

"Exactly," he nodded, "but of course something went wrong."

"Doesn't it always?" I sighed, "what went wrong?"

"Too much ghosts, since more people buried their pokémon here, more ghosts have come, more than trainers can catch."

"You're kidding right? I mean, I've only seen one for sure and I think two more, although that last one could have been some old lady."

"Ah, but we repress them," he interrupted and pointed at some metallic boxes at the ceiling, "you see? Those are special devices made by the Sylph company to keep the ghosts under control. If it wasn't for that, this place would be swarming. Now trainers have as much chance of catching a ghost pokémon as they have catching another one in the open."

"Practically ziltch," I nodded.

"Precisely," he grinned before his face became serious, "is it my imagination or did it get darker in here? Yes, the lights went out."

"Not only the lights," I pointed to the ghost repressor thingy, "that little red light went out."

"Oh dear, that means it doesn't work anymore."

"Is that bad?" I asked.

Then I saw how the shadows crept closer and surrounded us. Vague shapes became visible in the dark.

"Oh yes."

! 

AN: Now THIS is a cliff hanger. And unfortunately I won't be able to update next week or for the remainder of next month to be honest… Yeah, right, like I really would do that. I may be a sadistic bastard but I still have some humanity left (I think). See you guys next week and don't forget to review.


	15. Left in the dark

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 15 – Left in the dark

! 

Okay, for those of you who have just joined us, we are in deep shit. I was visiting Lavender Tower on advise of the chairman of the wrinkly raisins club, Mr. Fuji, when all of a sudden all lights went out, along with the electronic ghost repressors, which meant we were being swarmed by ghosts. I personally don't believe in ghosts but these were pokémon, so I'm willing to make an exception here.

"Got any fire pokémon?" Mr. Fuji asked.

"No, not really, I got water and a leaf that doesn't listen, but no fire, why?"

"Fire is one of the things that can hurt them," he said as he reached inside his pocket, "guess it has something to do with the light."

"You got a lighter?"

"Better." He grinned as he brought out a pokéball and released the biggest bad ass dragon I've ever seen, not that I've seen a lot of dragons, but you get the idea.

"Flametail, get us out of here." Fuji ordered as the large red dragon exhaled a fiery stream. The darkness grew apart and we quickly made our way to the exit, trying to ignore the dizziness then fell over us. The dragon turned his head to find the source and shot him with a firebolt. After seconds, minutes, hours, I honestly don't know, we completely lost sense of time, we made it out.

"What… what the hell was that?" I asked after I vomited.

"One of their attacks," Fuji answered, "although I have no idea how they got out. Somebody must have cut the power to the tower."

"Not just the tower."

We both looked up at the local law enforcer (I guess the town is too small to afford a Jenny).

"It's a general black out. The electricity in the whole town is down."

"Oh great. And when will power be back on?" I asked.

"Uhm, we don't know, apparently something happened at the power plant."

"And you have no idea what?"

"Uhm no."

"Want me to check things out?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"Well…"

"Fine, I'll do it. Just point me in the direction of the damn thing."

I swear to God, I'm too fuckin' good for this world.

After they told me the way to the power plant, I entered the tunnel, leaving my precious motorcycle behind (and I just got it, fuck).

! 

After seeing how dark it was in there, I exited the tunnel.

"It's fucking dark in there."

"Hm, guess the lights in the tunnel are down as well," Fuji said, "got any pokémon with Flash?"

"Huh?"

"Come with me," he sighed, "I'll give you what you need."

! 

The house of Mr. Fuji was filled with pokémon. Both stuffed as real. He had told me he was a pokémon all rounder, he liked everything about pokémon, treating them, healing them, playing with them. It made him feel young, he said. I just didn't care. Of course, he wasn't so much into it to dress up like a pokémon, like some "fans", but you could say he cared a lot for pokémon. The closets in his living room were filled with potions, books on pokémon, videota-

"That's not important for the moment," he grinned as he quickly shut the closet, "we have other things to attend to."

"Uhm, okay."

He showed me six small devices that would teach my pokémon special moves I could use in a fight and outside.

"These are the HM's for Flash, Strength, Surf, Fly, Whirlpool and Cut," Mr. Fuji explained, "there is one more, but that one I don't have, so I can't give it to you."

"Are you sure you just wanna give them to me?" I asked.

"Don't worry," he smiled, "there copies. I've got enough."

"Copies?" I frowned, "isn't that illegal?"

"You know how much those things cost?"

Oooookay! I quickly turned my attention to the things he had given me. Apparently all I had to do was to choose the right Pokémon for the skills. For the moment I just needed one to give Flash so that shouldn't be to hard. What do you mean, only a certain kind of pokémon could learn them? What a rip-off! After a quick study of one of the books Mr. Fuji had, he decided it was best to give Shockrat Flash. I decided to wait with the other HM's until I needed them. I called Shockrat out and stood there with the device in my hand. Shockrat tilted his head a bit and glared at me, curious of what I was going to do, letting out small sparks.

"Maybe I should be doing this outside." I thought outloud, not knowing what the result would be.

Shockrat followed me outside. I placed the HM against the side of his head and switched it on. It hummed for a brief moment and died down. According to the device it had worked, but how to know, right?

"Shockrat, flash."

The pokémon grinned and started to glow. Very bright. Very very bright.

"Shockrat, enough."

He died down and sat there grinning. I sighed and put the HM's in my backpack and readied myself to go through the tunnel. I put on my shades to be sure not to be blinded by Shockrat and entered the dark cave that soon bathed in light. Well, up to the powerplant.

! 

I cautiously moved through the tunnels. Although Shockrat lighted up the place, the tunnels were still dangerous and I don't think those things moving in the corner of my eye are all my imagination. I made my way through the first tunnel with no particular problem, just a couple of Zubats Shockrat easily disposed off, although it got me thinking, I still don't have a Zubat. Anyway, I climbed down the ladder and emerged in great underground hall. Fuck, how big was this place anyway? I made my way to the next tunnel when a Zubat suddenly came out of the shadows. Shockrat paralysed it and I got Sabretooth out to finish him off. Then things went crazy. The ground I was walking on moved and threw me on my back. Before I could get up I saw I was walking on the biggest Onix I had ever seen. It let out a huge screech and dashed forward towards Shockrat. He was too late to jump out of the way and was thrown back a couple of meters. I reached for Blaster and cursed the fact I left War in the centre. I only had Sabretooth, Shockrat, Blaster, Flutter, Lawrence and Slasher with me. I thought this was gonna be a short trip. I should have known better and this is gonna cost me for my arrogance. Blaster charged with a bubble attack which stunned the Onix but still smashed him in the ground. Sabretooth didn't show fear and dug his claws in the joints of the big rock snake. This kind of surprised him and he flinched. I got out a pokéball and threw. The big Onix let his tail fall on the ball and crushed it. Fuck, I only had one left now. Blaster shot out another bubble and the Onix fell down. It slowly lifted its massive head to attack again and I knew it was now or never. I threw my last empty pokéball and crossed my fingers. The ball opened up and drew the giant snake in. The little light blinked three times and went red. I caught it.

"Fuck yeah," I picked it up with a triumphant grin, "welcome to my happy family, Rocksnake."

So what if I suck at names, at least I had an Onix. Things couldn't get better than this. And indeed they didn't. I used a potion to get Shockrat back on his feet. I only had two potions left and Blaster assured me he was still capable of walking so I didn't get him something. I continued my way to the next tunnel and saw the ladder leading to the upper level when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You're mine!"

I turned around slowly, ready to deck anyone who was behind me and saw some hiker guy grinning broadly.

"Been looking for a decent fight for weeks now."

"Uhm, now is not the time, can I get a raincheck?"

"A raincheck?" the hiker boomed and laughed out loud, "fat chance. Get your pokémon out and start fighting."

He grabbed a pokéball and got out an Electrode. Fuck, what choice did I have? I got out Slasher and the ground pokémon glared at the round ball. Slasher jumped forward and clawed at the ball. The Electrode was thrown back against the wall and looked dazed.

"Self destruct!" the hiker shouted.

The electrode jumped up to Slasher and started to glow. Slasher tried to get out of the way, but the electrode was too fast and knocked the Sandshrew out with a sudden blast of energy.

"Haha, one down!" the hiker laughed.

"So is yours," I commented as I brought Flutter out.

He reacted with a Pikachu. Flutter however didn't flinch and spread out sleepingpowder. The Pikachu fell asleep and I called Flutter back and brought out Sabretooth out. Before the hiker could react, Sabretooth was clawing and biting the Pikachu. He brought back the unconscious Pikachu and brought out a Raticate. The Raticate went straight for Sabretooth and held it tight between its claws while biting in its head. Sabretooth went limp and I had no choice to call him back. Fuck, this wasn't going well. I got Flutter out again and he poisoned the Raticate, but he still came after the Butterfree. Flutter however could always keep a step ahead but each attack from the Raticate was a close call. Suddenly Flutter changed in its tracks and tackled the Raticate. It flew against the rockwall and the hiker called him back. He got a Geodude out that started to throw rocks at Flutter immediately. Flutter could evade all but one. The pokémon went down and staid down. I called him back and called out Blaster. He could barely stay on his feet but launched a waterblast to the Geodude. The Geodude was thrown back and didn't get up anymore.

"Hehe," the hiker laughed, "that's three down for both."

He brought a Bulbasaur out and I called Blaster back. There was no way he could win it in the state he was in. Fuck, how many pokémon did that asshole have? I brought out Lawrence who started to hum his lullaby.

"No, you won't!" the hiker growled, "Bulbasaur, sleeping powder."

The Bulbasaur shot out sleepingpowder but Lawrence dashed towards the Bulbasaur and knocked him back. He kept pounding on the grasspokémon until he stopped moving. He approvingly grinned and stepped back. Suddenly the Bulbasaur jumped up and shot out his vinewhips. Lawrence got a severe beating but grabbed the vines and smashed the grasspokémon into the wall. The Bulbasaur stopped moving and the hiker called out a new pokémon. Another Electrode. Lawrence started singing his song again, but the Electrode jumped up and tackled Lawrence. This was too much for the poor Jigglypuff and Lawrence fainted. I called him back and brought out Shockrat.

"Electric versus electric," the hiker grinned, "this should be interesting. Especially with my selfdestruct."

He was right. If that Electrode used selfdestruct Shockrat would lose.

"Shockrat," I yelled, "flash and tackle."

Shockrat let out a burst of light that blinded the Electrode and Shockrat started to beat him ferociously. When the Electrode started to glow, Shockrat jumped back.

"Electrode," the hiker yelled, "right centre."

The Electrode jumped to the direction the hiker had ordered and fell right before Shockrat. Before he could react the Electrode exploded and caused Shockrat to faint. Fuck. I only had Blaster left, but he had run over all of his pokémon if I wasn't mistaken.

"Bring out your last pokémon and we can get this over with," he grinned.

I brought Blaster out who was trying to stay up with all his willpower. The hiker got his poisoned Raticate out. Fuck, I completely forgot about that one, I thought he had fainted like the rest. The Raticate jumped forward and before Blaster could react he was tackled. Blaster just fell down and didn't move anymore. The Raticate let out a victorious cry and fainted.

I lost?

"Looks like I win," the hiker grinned, "now give me my money."

I lost?

I lost?

Fuck.


	16. Seeing the light

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 16 – Seeing the light

! 

I can't really remember how I got out of the tunnel but I finally emerged back into sunlight. I hoped there was a pokécentre somewhere nearby so I could heal my guys. If only…

"Hey, I thought the tunnels were closed?"

… I didn't run into someone. Fuck. Here's another loss. Hey, I'm getting pretty good at this.

"Tony? That you?"

Huh? I had no idea who was before me since my eyes weren't adjusted to the bright sunlight yet, but the voice sounded strangely familiar, well obviously it sounded familiar since that guy knew me, just fuck off, alright?

"Who?"

"It's me, Allan."

"Allan?" I blinked a couple of times and indeed, out of the darkness his stupid grin appeared, "how did you get here? I thought you were in Cerulean?"

"I was, but I came here to train my pokémon. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to check what's wrong with the power plant," I said, still not really believing he was before me, "the electricity in Lavender is shot."

"Well, I'll help you if I can," he suddenly frowned as he looked closer, "but you should go to the pokémoncentre to freshen up, you don't look too good."

"Good idea, I don't feel too good either." I grunted.

I believe I actually leaned on him as we went to the nearby pokémoncentre.

"Hey, wanna battle?"

I froze. I had my hopes up when Allan had decided to help me instead of taking my money, but now some other guy was gonna beat my already beaten pokémon into submission.

"Now's not the time, maybe later," Allan said.

"Okay, maybe next time then." The guy replied.

"You can do that?" I asked.

"Sure, if you don't want to fight, you don't fight," Allan explained, "nobody can force you into a pokémonfight, otherwise the league gives him or her a serious penalty."

Fuck, I've been had.

! 

"But how did you exactly get here?" I asked Allan as I ate my Tauros sandwich, "there's no way you could have passed me in that tunnel."

"I took the road." He replied.

"What road?"

He slightly frowned.

"You really don't know you're way around these parts do you? The road from Cerulean."

"You mean that there's a fucking road from Cerulean to the power plant?"

"Well, yes."

"Fuck. So I walked all this way for nothing? Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"It's not that bad." Allan tried to calm me down.

"Not that bad? Fuck! Some hoodlum in those caves practically robbed me! I lost a pokémonfight and I had to give him 600 bucks! Six hundred! That was practically all I had! I only have about thirty left now! Fuck!"

"Six hundred?" Allan grimaced, "you WERE robbed. The maximum amount of money you can win with a pokémonfight is 200 in the junior league and 400 in the professional league and since you haven't collected all the badges yet and thus haven't fought in the league, you're still a junior, despite your age of course."

"But I already won over 300 dollar per fight." I raised an eyebrow.

"Like I said, you're probably the oldest junior around. You're what? Twenty? Most twenty year old pokémon trainers are all pro's. Heck, most sixteen year olds are pro. You were probably mistaken for a pro so normally you got more money."

"Wow, lucky me." I thought for a second. "I don't have to give the money back, do I?"

"Well, if you remember who you fought against…" he left it hanging and I just nodded.

"That reminds me," he grinned, "we never finished our fight in Cerulean."

"I don't have time now," I shook my head, "I have to go to the power plant to see what the problem is. Could you tell me where I can find it?"

"Sure, it's just up the river."

"And I get there… how?"

"You got surf?"

"Huh?"

"One of the HM's."

"Oh yeah, I have those doohickey's." I started to rummage through my backpack, "I think one of them is surf. Ah here it is."

"Who are you gonna give it to?" Allan grinned.

"Uhm…"

Oh great, that dilemma came up again.

"Best is a large pokémon that can carry you comfortably, like a Lapras or something."

Fuck, I didn't have any large pokémon yet. Except for Rocksnake and I didn't really see him surf.

"But if you want, you can use my Dragonair, I'm sure it can handle two persons."

"Two?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, he won't listen to you. You have to take me, and besides, I think I can help you in the power plant."

I sighed.

"Fine, but get a decent team of pokémon that stand a good chance against electric types," I suddenly wondered, "and also against ground and rock."

"Two types that are good against electric, are you expecting trouble?"

"No, but somehow I seem to get it anyway."

! 

So there I was, ready to leave to the power plant, along my faithful sidekick (ahum) Allan. I'm not gonna say I helped him pick his team and I definitely won't say that he helped with mine (although I did thank him for some good suggestions). My team consisted of Blaster, Slasher, Weasel, Rock, King and Shocker. His team included the Dragonair, his Geodude from the Cerulean fight, a Rattatta, a Rhyhorn he had caught in the safari zone, a Muk and finally a Machop he had recently caught. It's strange. When I first met him I didn't think we would get along this well. It seems somehow his dorkyness has mellowed or something, although that could be my personal opinion, since I've started to know him a bit better.

! 

Anyway. We got on the Dragonair and set sail (or how do you say that with a pokémon?) to the power plant, feeling in my gut things weren't gonna go as smoothly as I hoped.

! 

Allan and me arrived at the power plant, courtesy of his Dragonair. From the moment I set foot on the shore, I had the feeling something wasn't right. I would say my spider-sense was tingling but then I would get sued by Marvel comics.

"Hey, what are you kids doing here?"

"Kids?" I turned around and glared at the guy in the black and red uniform, "I'm twenty, I'm no kid anymore, asshole."

"Still no reason to be rude," the guy tried to defend himself, "just because I called you kid doesn't mean you should start calling me names."

"I'm sorry," I sighed, "it's just been a rough day for me, I didn't mean to…"

"That's okay, but try to be friendlier next time, okay?"

"I'll try." I smiled and readied myself to pass him.

"Hey," the guard suddenly came back to his senses, "no, you guys shouldn't be here."

"I'm not a guy," Allan grumbled, "I'm sixteen, I'm still a kid, asshole."

"Hey, I said I was sorr… what the fuck? That trick won't work with me again."

The guard's hand went to his pokéballs and I was ready to hit him when the Dragonair suddenly shot out of the water and wrapped himself around the guard, finishing it off with a headbutt. The guard fell down and the Dragonair slithered its way to Allan who returned it to its pokéball.

"Okay, something is definitely going on here," I said as I grabbed the guards uniform, "DS, fuck, the Dark Squad."

"Who are they?" Allan enquired.

"The new Team Rocket. They were the ones behind that whole thing in Mount Moon as well."

"Dark Squad?" he raised an eyebrow, "don't they know everyone's gonna change that to Dork Squad?"

"You would think so, wouldn't you?"

I dropped the guard and walked to the door of the power plant. I opened the door slightly and looked inside. There were two more guards talking and laughing. I slowly closed the door again and stepped back to Allan. I should have known things would be a lot harder than I first thought. Aren't they always?

"We're fucked. Apparently the Dark Squad took over the power plant. And they're with more than two, so, we're fucked."

"Shouldn't we warn someone?" Allan frowned.

I nodded and got my cell phone out.

"Hey Sue, it's me Tony… there's a small problem here… what do you mean, you could have thought so?… well, this is pretty serious… you know the power plant?… well, guess who took over… yes indeed, the Dark Squad… how do you think I know?… I didn't know when I got here… I'm here because there's a black out in Lavender… so you're coming with the SWAT?…why not?… … … fuck… okay, then I have no choice but to deal with this myself... then may be too late… don't worry I'm not alone… uhm, best you don't know… okay, Allan… yes, that Allan… don't worry, I'll… I'll… … I'll take care of him… I promise… have I ever let you down?… okay, that time doesn't count… yeah, but… I'll be fine… just send reinforcements as soon as you can… will do… see you later…bye."

I hung up and cursed.

"What's the news?" Allan asked.

"Bad news. They've found an old base of Team Rocket in Pewter and they're storming it with every force available, including the SWAT of Cerulean, so we have no back up… Fuck!"

"So we have to do it alone?"

I nodded.

"What do you know of the plant?"

"Not much," Allan sighed, "there's a hall before you can get in the factory part, but beyond that, I have no idea."

I glanced down at the unconscious guard. His uniform didn't seem to be isolated.

"Let's take a long shot," I sighed.

! 

The door flew open and a yellow blur ran into the hall. The two guards jumped up and reached for their pokéball but stopped when they saw a Pikachu sitting before them.

"Great, one of those," one of them sighed, "man, this place is crawling with Pikachu's and Raichu's. Luckily they don't attack people."

"Actually," the second one frowned, "this is the first Pikachu I've see-"

Shocker let out a burst of energy that stunned the two guards. Allan and me quickly made our way in and dragged them outside. Well, I dragged them outside, Allan came behind with a roll of isolated wire. We tied up the guards and re-entered the power plant. We found the staff tied up in the office behind the welcome desk.

"Thank you for saving us," one of them said, "we thought we were done for."

"How many are there?" I asked.

"About seven," he replied.

"So that means there are four left," I nodded to Allan, "any of you guys wanna help us?"

The staff members looked at each other to see if somebody would volunteer and I sighed.

"Just get the fuck out of here, okay?"

The staff ran out and Allan and me continued our way into the plant, careful not to touch anything that looked suspicious (I had to warn Allan three times not to pick up a stray pokéball, reminding him it might be a Voltorb). We found three of the four Squaders or whatever they called themselves in the factory part. Allan and I decided an all out attack would be best so I sent in Rocksnake for a surprise attack. Boy, there's really no such surprise as a massive Onix bursting in. While they ducked for cover, Allan and me ran in with our pokémon taking out the evil doers without much of a problem. Before they could react they were either shocked, poisoned, clobbered or a combination of the three.

"Okay, that's three, where's the fourth?" Allan asked.

"Who cares, let's start this puppy back up so the people in Lavender can relax."

I found the main switch for Lavender and turned it on. I heard the turbines starting up and soon the board flashed up.

"Bingo. Now, we can look for number four."

Suddenly a door in the back swung open.

"Hey guys, you'll never believe what's behind… Fuck!"

Before we could react he had grabbed his pokéball and brought out an Onix.

"I thought you might use rock pokémon to counter the electric," I grinned as I reached for Blasters pokéball, "so I took precautions."

The Wartortle made his watergun attack and the Onix fell down after one blow. The Dork Squid (yeah, that sounds about right) hesitated for a second and brought out a Voltorb. Before I could react Allan had brought out his Ryhorn that stormed full speed at the Voltorb, ramming it. In the mean time Allan's Dragonair had slithered behind the poor guy and jumped him.

"We won!" Allan shouted.

"Was there ever any doubt?" I grinned.

"Well, honestly, I wasn't too sure about the outcome. I mean these are renowned criminals."

"True," I nodded, "but actually I was asking a rhetorical question. Now, let's see what had that guy so worked up."

I walked to the door that bozo came out of and opened it.

"Fuck…"

! 

My hair stood up as I entered the room. Before me there was a huge bird that seemed to shimmer. Electric jolts ran over its body as it clapped its wings. I stood speechless while a little voice in my head said "go for a pokéball", but I couldn't react. I mean, that bird was so fucking awesome. It was the same size as that Articuno that had saved me from the islands but it didn't look anything like it. It let out a screech that seemed to go through my body like one million volts and clapped its wings again. I looked around and saw there was no way out for it, except for a large gate that was closed. I stepped to the gate and pushed the button to open it. The bird blinked as the gate slowly opened and let out another screech. He flew out, circled above the plant while it kept looking at me and left.

"Oh my God," Allan said, "that was a Zapdos, you just let a Zapdos fly away, oh my God."

"I know." I responded.

"Why did you let it out? You could have caught it."

"I don't know," I said, "it didn't seem right, I mean, it had no way to go, he couldn't run…"

Suddenly, I don't know why, my mood dropped. Like I remembered something that was far from pleasant, but I couldn't remember what I remembered. It's hard to explain, but… I suddenly felled very depressed.

"Just…" I shook my head, "let's just get out of here, okay?"


	17. Reservoir Wolfs

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 17 – Reservoir Wolfs

! 

I can't believe it. I can't fucking believe it! FUCK! I mean… I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT!!! I got up and went for my pokéballs… which weren't on my belt anymore. Fuck. There I was, surrounded by seven pokéballs and one of them was a Voltorb. Talk about Russian roulette. I can't fucking believe I fell for it. All the time in the power plant I warned Allan not to pick up any stray pokéballs and now that I went out for some training I found a stray pokéball and I picked it up. FUCK! Okay, I was gonna take my chances, after all, the odds were six outta seven it was one of my pokémon so –FUCK. I was thrown back a couple of meters as the Voltorb shocked me again. I went for the nearest pokéball, safe in the knowledge it couldn't be that Voltorb, praying it indeed wasn't, and brought out, phew, Slasher.

"Cut that fucker down to size!"

The Sandshrew looked at the six pokéballs that were spread out in the grass and sniffed the air. He jumped up and clawed at one of them. The Voltorb screeched in pain and I got out my last empty pokéball from the inner pocket of my coat. Slasher kept on fighting the Voltorb and I threw my pokéball. The Voltorb disappeared and the pokéball buzzed for a few seconds and then went silent. I caught a Voltorb but it hurt like hell. Fuck. I can't believe I fell for that camouflage trick. I picked up the rest of my pokéballs and looked for other pokémon to fight and to train mine. After a few hours I decided to call it a day and return to the pokécentre. Just as I was ready to leave the little grassy field I spotted another pokéball lying there. I just went around it in a large bow.

"Hey, aren't you gonna pick that up?"

I looked at the little kid who had a Pikachu in his trail.

"No, don't feel like it."

"Man, you're a sucker, leaving a pokéball like that."

Whatever. He picked up the pokéball with a broad grin and stuffed it in his backpack. Little snot. That's it, somebody up there hates me big time. I mean, I let a Zapdos out for no apparent reason and the gods don't even thank me, no they electrocute my ass. If only something, just anything, could happen to cheer me up.

"Hey, there's another one he-AAARGH"

Heh heh heh.

! 

"So, you're leaving again?"

I nodded as I packed the stuff I had bought.

"Yep, my bike's still at Lavender and now that the power's restored I can return. So Allan, I guess this is goodbye. And I hate to admit it, but I had fun hanging with you. So maybe I'll see you sooner or later."

Hopefully later than sooner.

"Maybe," he grinned, "I have to say, I had fun as well. Oh, and did you hear? Some kid mistook a Voltorb for a pokéball, can you believe someone would fall for that?"

"Yeah," I scowled, "imagine that. Anyway, I trained my pokémon and fought some trainers, so my finances are healthier again."

"You gonna take the rock tunnel again?"

"Yep, I have some unfinished business there."

! 

The hiker cracked his knuckles and counted his "winnings". Things weren't going too bad. There weren't too much people who could take on his six pokémon and with the potions he had in stock, he was unbeatable. He grinned as he thought of that guy he shook down for six hundred bucks. A hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality. He turned and a fist met his chin.

"What the…"

"Let's rock." I said.

"You again? What makes you think you can win this time?"

"You remember that Wartortle?"

He slowly nodded. I stepped back and slowly took Blasters pokéball. A huge Blastoise materialised before the hiker.

"He got bigger," I grinned.

! 

When I exited the rock tunnel I was welcomed by the small bald raisin know as Mr. Fuji.

"You did it," he grinned, "well done."

"Why didn't you tell me there was a road from Cerulean leading to the power plant?"

"The rock tunnel is faster." He said.

"Not when you have a motorcycle like I have."

"Oh, is that yours?"

"Dude, I don't fucking need this, you know? I have better things to do."

"Better things than saving a city?"

"It was restoring the electricity of a small town and yes, much better things."

I suddenly noticed the activity near the tower and a lot of blue cars.

"What the fuck?"

"Oh, apparently it was a ploy of a band called the Dark Squad to catch a bunch of ghost pokémon, but thanks to…"

"Yeah, whatever," I simply stated, "I don't have time for this."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Suddenly I felt very tired, as if the weight of the world was on my shoulders. Beating the crap out of that hiker had been fun, especially getting my money back, but I really didn't care about that shit. All I wanted to do was to find out who I was and not save the world of criminal organisations. I mean, fuck them, let the cops handle it. I had better things to do.

"So I guess you want to try to catch a ghost pokémon now, don't you?" Fuji grinned.

I stared at him. He started to fidget his hands nervously?

"Well… don't you?"

"Did I try to get one when the place was crawling with them?"

"Uhm, but… but then you were trying to safe us, right?"

"If I wanted one, I would have gotten one then, but no, I don't want one at the moment, maybe later, I don't know. We'll see."

"You… you don't?"

I shook my head and strolled to my bike.

"Just fuck off, okay?"

I got on my bike and started it.

"Hey, you're the one that secured the power plant?"

I looked up and saw the officer Jenny of Saffron coming over.

"That's me, yes."

"Wow, you must be a hero."

Was it my imagination or was there some discontent in her voice?

"Not by choice, believe me. If you'll excuse me, I have to go to Saffron to get some Growlithes for your niece."

I rode off and left a baffled Fuji and a pensive looking Jenny.

"From what I've read," she mused, "he's going back to his old self. Better warn Susan."

! 

I rode past Saffron without giving it much thought. I just didn't feel like stopping and wasting time around people. Fuji had pissed me off, thinking I wanted one of those ghost pokémons. Well, yeah, I wanted one of those ghost pokémons but I didn't want to capture it. Fuck, I went through a lot of trouble to get the power back on, the least they could do was say thanks, and they didn't even do that. Well, actually the least they could have done was nothing which was preciously what they had did. I go and stop a plan of the Dark Squad and I get squat. No, wait, I had the chance to go and catch a ghost pokémon! Woohoo!

"Goddamn stupid bald old geezer, thinks everyone is as obsessed about pokémon as he is, probably thinks I get off on pokémon…"

I suddenly stopped as my mind wandered back to Mr. Fuji and the stuff I had seen in one of his closets. What was in it? There were potions, books and videota-. Nah, it couldn't be, he wouldn't be THAT sick. For my own sanity I decided not to think about it anymore and parked my bike just outside Saffron and ventured forth into the small woods on the road to Celadon. I hoped I would find some Growlithes fast so I had a decent excuse to see Susan again.

! 

I absolutely had no idea, but I'm pretty good at climbing trees. I mean, I think I am, since I'm in one right now, but don't ask me how I got here. I only remember those five Growlithes in front of me, growling and snarling and they suddenly leaping forward. Next thing I know, there's a blur of passing trees and I'm up here looking for balance on some branches. And those mutts are down there, not really eager to go anywhere else soon. Why do these things keep on happening to me? Is there somebody there that hates me? I try to reach for one of my pokéballs but a cracking sound makes me grab the branch again. I don't know if that sound was a good or a bad sound but cracking can't be good. Besides, I couldn't really check which pokémon I was going to take and I couldn't throw it down between the Growlithes. Or maybe I could… my memory raced to recollect what pokémon I had with me. There was Blaster, who could definitely kick the living shit out of those pups, Lawrence was also there, and fuck, I forgot to rename him, oh well, who else did I have? King and Queen, who now had evolved into Nidorino and Nidorina thanks to that thug in the tunnels, Shockrat and finally Rocksnake. That meant I had one chance on two to land a heavy hitter, and Lawrence, King and Queen could also kick mayor butt but not against a pack of five Growlithes. I mean, the little fuckers are small, but those teeth. Dude. A sudden noise made them look away and I grabbed one of my pokéballs. I dropped it between them and out came… King? Fuck. The Growlithes started to growl but King just jumped forward and tackled two of them. He turned around and hit a third with his horn. I let go of the branch I was holding and in my descent I grabbed another pokéball. I landed just in front of the two remaining Growlithes who were obviously startled by my sudden appearance. I let out Blaster who shot the two Growlithes with his watercannon. There was nothing left for me to do but to capture them and contact Susan. My first assignment completed. Man I felt good. Things were finally going as I wanted them to.

! 

As I was going to my bike, a noise made me look up. Oh God, not another pack of Growlithes! No, it was something smaller, and just one. A quick glance on my pokédex showed me I was being attacked by a Vulpix. Well, it was biting in my boot, so I guess it was attacking.

"You're a feisty fellow aren't you?" I grinned.

The Vulpix looked up, yelped, jumped and bit my leg, just above my boot.

"Aargh, you little fucker!"

In a reflex I kicked it away and it fell down a bit further. I expected it to run away, but it just turned to me and growled. I grinned and brought out Lawrence. He jumped up and kicked the Vulpix. A pokéball later, I had a Vulpix. Fuck, I was gonna have to buy more pokéballs.

! 

Just as I stopped at the pokécentre Susan came outside.

"Ah, Tony, just the man I was looking for."

"Hey Susan, I got your Growlithes."

"Thanks, that's great!" she smiled, somehow seemed a bit at ease, "how many do you have?"

"Five, and they're all yours, I don't need any."

"Five? That's even better than I hoped for. I'll make a few calls and see if my niece in Cerulean doesn't need any. Could you wait here until I make a few calls concerning your pay?"

"As long as it concern my pay," I grinned, "you can do whatever you want."

She smiled and left for the police station. I entered the pokécentre and decided to get a room there since it wasn't necessary anymore to go back to Pewter. I gave my pokémon to be healed and took a quick shower. When I got back at the reception there was a note for me from Susan. She wanted me to meet her at the restaurant at seven. Fine, that gave me another four hours to train.

! 

I rushed in the restaurant and saw her waving at me. I made may way past various waiters and customers and reached the table. I sat down with a sigh. Susan squinted here eyes.

"Is your hair wet?"

"Uhm yes, I took a shower before I came over."

"Just for me?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm, no, I decided to go training this afternoon and just when I was ready to come over, I got tackled by an Arcanine. And let me tell you, those things are big ass motherfuckers. I don't think my coat is singed but it came damn near close. I could escape by rushing through several bushes and diving into some small pond. That's why I had to take a shower and change. I don't even know how late it is. I hope you haven't been waiting for too long."

"No, I just got here." She said with a hint of a smile.

I glanced at the table. There was an empty glass in front of her. Hmm, either she was lying or a heavy drinker. A quick look at my watch showed me it wasn't the latter. Fuck, seven thirty.

"Sorry I'm late." I tried to apologise.

"That's okay," she reassured me, "let's order and then get down to business."

I took the menu and quickly looked over the selection. When the waiter came, I gave the menu one last glance and ordered. Susan ordered without looking. Ouch.

! 

"So," Susan broke the silence, "five Growlithes."

I nodded while I took a sip of my glass.

"What do you want for them?"

I had to think about that. Somewhere in my mind I never thought I would actually catch one, so it didn't really come into mind what I should ask.

"Well," I started, "I would definitely need five pokéballs for them, and let's say, a hundred bucks a piece?"

Her eyes narrowed as she thought. Uh oh, not good.

"But…" I tried, "because it's you and we get along really good, how about 75?"

"Fine, seventy five it is, but I need to see them before I take them with me."

"No problem, let's go to the computer and you can see their stats."

! 

Susan looked at the stats on her clipboard and then at the pups, sitting in front of her.

"They seem to be all good Growlithes," she nodded, "I can't see why you would give them away so cheap."

Fuck.

"Normally, a good growlithe costs about 250 dollars, these are really a bargain."

"Well, I didn't have much trouble catching them," I said, "so that's why…"

"You had no idea about the price did you?"

"No ma'am." I admitted.

"Fine, I can't take advantage of you, so what about hundred fifty for each growlithe, five pokéballs and I send a letter of recommendation to the pokéleague?"

"That's a deal." I nodded and shook her hand.

"Very well, I will leave you now, since you obviously have a big day ahead of you tomorrow."

Huh?

"Well, don't you wanna go to Vermillion?"

"Oh yes, yes, of course. Tomorrow I'll go and see if I can find something about my past."

"Well, if you do, let me know, okay?"

"I will, don't worry."

She gathered the Growlithes and left. I stretched my back and went to my room.

! 

In my bed I red through some brochures of the tourism section about Vermillion. A large city that mostly had it from their harbour. Their connection with the ocean was through a long canal that run under route 17, better known as the biking slopes or something like that. It held a route with Cinnabar island and Johto. Well, that didn't interest me much, I was just curious about the boats that had sailed there the past few weeks. This was it, a chance to discover who I really was. But why didn't I like it?


	18. Happy harbour

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 18– Happy harbour

! 

I woke up early the next morning and had a light breakfast at the pokécentre. I was eager to go to Vermillion to find out if they had anything that could help me. At the gates there was no sign of the accident from the previous days so I could pass without any problem. Two hours later I arrived at Vermillion and made my way to the police station since I still had to report there thanks to my little… oh what the fuck, because I threatened a nurse in Pewter with a knife. Anyway, the lovely niece of officer Jenny took note of my arrival and I took the opportunity to inform where I could find information about any shipwrecks.

"Shipwrecks? From a long time ago you mean?"

"No," I smiled, "just last week."

"There weren't any shipwrecks last week," officer Jenny shook her head, "and I would know, I'm the head of the harbour police."

"No shipwrecks involving boats starting with the letter 'A'?"

"No, last week the S.S. Atomic, S.S. Anne and S.S. Allayambam all reported in without any problems."

"I'm sorry, Allay…"

"Don't ask," her look told me enough, "what makes you think there was a shipwreck concerning any of these ships?"

"Well, I woke up last week on an island near Cinnabar with part of a life belt which held the letters S.S. A. So I thought there was a shipwreck."

She looked pensive at me and started to type in a few commands on her computer.

"The S.S. Atomic and S.S. Anne both sailed close to Cinnabar but… no, all their passenger lists were complete. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," I reassured her, but not succeeding in reassuring me, "are there any other shipping routes near Cinnabar?"

"Not from here, I don't have access to the ones at Fuchsia, maybe it was a ship from there."

"Maybe, thanks anyway."

"You're welcome." She smiled.

! 

Fuck, this was not good. I thought I had a lead in finding out who I was, turns out it's not a ship from Vermillion. That meant I had to get as fast as possible to Fuchsia then. Fuchsia, that sounded familiar. I reached into my breast pocket of my jacket and took out the only picture of me. Oak had said it was taken in the Safari Zone in Fuchsia. Hmm, when you think about it, it does make sense the ship might have set sail from there. But hey, Vermillion had a bigger harbour and was closer. Now, was there another reason to go there? Oh yeah, Alex his Ditto. When I got there I could catch one and bring it to him so he could also start to breed his pokémon. World, look out for his Magikarp! Heh heh. Anyway, since I didn't have anything to do here anymore, I should… hey, wasn't that Angela? That redhead I had last seen in Cerulean? Well, since I had nothing better to do, maybe I could catch up with her. No, I don't have a one track mind. I find that very offensive, there are more things on my mind than sex you know. Fuck, you try to be polite… I mean, how many people I know do I run into, huh? Except for Alan, none! And now I'm going to change that.

! 

Man, this was boring. Tiffany hated working in the store. Nobody interesting would ever come in. Well, that's the curse you have for owning a fishing shop. Either there was nobody here or only some old fishermen bragging about the size of the Magikarp they had caught. Sigh, if only somebody cool would come in… The doorbell made her sit up straight. Oh my gosh, that was a quite guy, finally someone cool. The quite blonde guy smiled at her and walked to a rack with various fishing rods. His friend had a short buzz haircut and seemed a bit bothered by entering the store.

"Remind me why we are here?" he asked his blonde friend.

"Well, as long as we have no news of our friend, we might as well do something, so let's fish."

"Fish…" the other repeated, nodding his head as if he was forced to agree.

"That way, we stay in town and can keep a look out for… what was that for?"

The blonde guy looked angrily at his friend who had just nudged his elbow and then followed his gaze.

"Well I'll be damned, when you speak of the devil," he started laughing.

Quickly the two men left the store to run after whoever they had seen. Sigh, and again no luck for Tiffany…

! 

Officer Jenny had just finished her shift and was ready for some deep sea diving when she noticed Tony running after a redheaded girl while being pursued by two guys in black. She quickly turned around and ran back to the police station…

! 

"Hey Angela!"

Fuck, she didn't hear me. I ran after her but stopped when she entered a warehouse close to the docks. Maybe I shouldn't follow her in there. On the other hand, why not? I mean, she had left the door open, I just happened to pass, and saw her, so… I was confident I would bullshit my way out of it when the time arose. I was going in.

! 

The door led to a huge storage space filled with large boxes. Angela was there talking to two guys in black suits. Maybe I was overstepping my boundaries here so maybe I should leave. As I was ready to turn around I heard a click, which made me turn around faster. Some big ugly looking guy had just closed the door and glanced at me.

"Uhm, I know Angela." I tried.

I was trying to think of good excuses to explain my presence here that I almost neglected the tingling sensation in the back of my skull, warning me for something.

"Tony? What are you doing here?"

I turned around and grinned as Angela approached.

"Well, I saw you in town and I tried to call you but you must not have heard me so…"

The tingling came stronger and my glance wandered to the guy at the door. That black suit wasn't a suit, but a uniform. Oh shit.

"Oh shit."

I tried to dash forward and punch him in the face, but the two guys that had been talking to Angela were faster and pinned me down. I tried to struggle free but the big guy kicked me in the stomach and I went limp.

"Tie him up!" Angela shouted, "he's valuable to us."

The goons threw me up a chair and tied me up, hitting me in the process.

"This is a major step up for the Dark Squad," Angela grinned as she slapped me and then kissed me, "now we'll get that old fool to his knees."

! 

"This is bad!"

The blonde guy shook his head and looked through the window again.

"This is very bad!"

"I know," the other Rocket snapped, "we can't let him in their hands, we got to do something."

"But the boss told us to keep low profile, so we can't call in another chapter."

"There aren't many Rockets around here anymore, most of them deflected to the Dark Squad."

"This is bad!" the blonde guy repeated, "what do we do now?"

His friend breathed loudly as he thought. He seemed to reach a conclusion.

"We call the cops."

"We can't do that?"

"You got any other idea?"

The blonde guy sighed.

"Let's find a payphone. I don't want them to trace my cell phone."

! 

I was tied to a chair and slapped by a beautiful woman and, on a bad note, it wasn't some sex game. I don't know how I got in this situation. I honestly don't. All I know is I saw Angela somewhere in Vermillion, and since I met her the first time in Viridian I think and have seen her recently since, I thought I would catch up and chat a bit. Well, whooptee fucking doo. For some reason she taught I was valuable to them. Probably because I know Oak, but it's not like we're best friends or something. I mean, I know him, but I hardly know the guy, know what I mean? It has to be Oak, I don't know any other old fool they want to bring to their knees. Or she knows something about me I don't…

"Mind telling me why you've tied me up?" I asked and eyed Angela.

She laughed without humour and tossed her red hair back.

"Don't act like we are fools. We know who you are and you're just the boost our organisation needs."

Okay, they know I'm Tony Hunter and know Oak or they know who I was. A little clearer please?

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I'm somebody special?"

Hey, it was worth a shot.

"Now don't play coy," she smiled as she got up and slapped me in the face, "it insults our intelligence."

"You guys have intel-"

Another hard slap interrupted my sentence. You would think they let a guy complete his witty remarks, don't you? She turned and started to walk the stairs, leading to the upstairs office, only stopping at one of her goons to give him orders.

"Keep an eye on him, I'll let headquarters know the good news."

! 

Outside were two men eagerly looking for a working telephone booth. When they reached a booth the blonde one picked up and thanked God when he heard a dial tone. Just as he was to dial 911, his cell phone rang. He looked at his friend to decide which to do first and checked his cell phone.

"It's HQ," he glared back at his friend, "what do I do?"

"Pick up. Maybe we can still have some back-up."

The blonde guy nodded and picked up.

"Yeah it's us… what? You're kidding right?… No wait… We got…No but we got … What? What do you mean "no longer a priority"?… But he's right… You're shitting me!… Right now?… Oh come ON… When the boss hears… Oh, he decided, heh? Well he doesn't know… … Fine, we'll come back but you better tell him we're following YOUR orders… Don't worry, they'll be your orders… Fine, we'll come right back."

With a curse he hang up and dropped his head.

"Well?" his friend urged.

"They're calling us back."

"What?"

"They're fucking calling us back!" he shouted, "he's right in our grasp and we have to let him go!"

"What… what do you mean?"

"He's no longer a priority! Orders from Giovanni himself. Come back to Celadon and shut the fuck up."

"Giovanni said that?"

"Giovanni said that!" the blonde guy nodded.

"But he's… Oh I can't fucking believe this!"

"So now what do we do?"

"Well, go back to Celadon I suppose."

"No, I mean about Tony?"

The blonde guy seemed to think for a while.

"Well?"

"We call the cops," he seemed to reach a conclusion, "if we don't get him, they don't get him."

He picked up the phone and started dialling.

"Hello 911 emergencies, how may I help you?"

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he heard the sirens.

"Hello?"

He put down the receiver and turned around. A dozen police cars passed with flashing lights and loud sirens, all heading for the warehouse complex.

"You think…" he started.

The trimmed one got out a photo camera and zoomed in at their destination.

"Yep."

"But how…"

"I don't know, but they're busting in at the warehouse of the Dark Squad."

He put the camera back and nudged his buddy.

"We got to go. Now."

Both men turned and walked away as fast as possible without seeming suspicious.

! 

The goon right in front of me was cracking his knuckles and it was really annoying me. Remind me to do it when I get the chance. He grinned and came up to me, raising his fist to smack me. I braced for impact but when nothing happened I dared to open an eye, suspecting him grinning even wider for making me flinch and then hit me, but instead he was looking at the door. Then I suddenly realised there were sirens. The door got busted in and several guys in black and blue swarmed in with guns ready. Somewhere I realized they were cops and I eased a bit. Just a bit. Before any of the Dork Squids had time to blink, each one had at least three cops on his back, reading them their rights. Only the one that was "attending" me tried to put up a fight but was quickly put down by the handle of a shotgun. While one of the cops placed his knee in his neck to keep him down, another one loaded his gun and placed it against the guy's temple.

"Blink, and I'll blow a hole in your head, bigger than the one in the ozone layer!" he shouted.

Fuck, I have to remember that line, that was fucking awesome!

"Tony, you okay?"

I looked up from the cop that untied me and saw officer Jenny walking up to me in full battle dress, packing a shotgun. Remind me never to mess with the woman. Was this? Yes, it was the Jenny of Vermillion and not Pewter. Fuck. Hey, it's just because I know Susan better, that's all.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked as she helped me up.

"We got an anonymous phone call." She said.

I had no idea who had called but I was grateful.

"Now what?"

"We'll get you back to the station where you can testify against these guys and we can lock them up."

"Cool."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She grinned.

! 

"Okay, let's recap. What just happened?"

The two Rockets were sitting in the back of a bar near the shore.

"Either the cops raided the place because of a stake out…"

"Not likely but still."

"Or somebody tipped them about Tony."

"Who?"

"That I don't know. As far as I know, we were the only ones who knew he was there."

"So what do we do know."

"Go back to Celadon and relax for a while. I'm tired of running after the little brat."

"Fine, we go back, but I still wanna get to the bottom of this. For Marc's sake."

"Yeah, I can't believe Giovanni seemed to forget what he did. Either way, it's out of our hands now."

His friend nodded and finished his glass.


	19. Gambling time

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

! 

Chapter 19 – Gambling time

! 

Okay, I had spend a day or two in Vermillion, filling out the paper work to put those guys from the Dark Squad away (I felt kinda bad about Angela but then again, she shouldn't have tied me up) and then rode off to Celadon. I don't know why but I felt good, calm and relaxed even. I just enjoyed the nature as I drove to the huge city that was Celadon and I believe my eye twitched when I saw the flashing lights. Sorry, but it's quite a shock getting thrown in a turbulent metropolis if you just spend several hours in woods. I parked my bike near the pokécentre and booked a room for the night.

As I wandered around in the city, I wondered if I should train my pokémon or enjoy the town. Oh, what the hell, let's do both. Today I'll train my pokémon and tonight I'll hit the town. I found some trainers just outside town who's ass I kicked. Well, most of them anyway. I don't know, somehow I got over the torment of losing. Ah, who am I kidding? When I lost I returned to the pokécentre and brought out my heavy hitters to kick the living snot out of whatever asshole that beat me! What? It's not like I'm out to make friends now, am I? Fuck 'em! I wanted to be the best and that meant crushing every body else. I was lucky the pokéleague was set in a short time, so all the serious trainers were already off to the Indigo plateau so all the, what's the word I should use, ah yes, rejects were left and I could handle them. In fact, I had so much fun beating those little bitches into submission I completely lost track of time and it was too late to go into town. Oh well, there was still tomorrow. For some strange reason those weren't gonna be there the next day, so I didn't need to bother to go back. Really!

I turned in for the night and had a good sleep. When I woke up I felt amazing. Little did I know shit was gonna hit the fan later on. After breakfast I explored town a bit and saw a lot of casino's. I checked my money and what the heck, let's gamble a bit, shan't we?

! 

"So you guys had him and you let him go?"

"We had him and HAD to let him go," the speaker corrected as he put his drink on the table rather hard, "we got called back by HQ."

The blonde Rocket motioned the waiter to bring three more drinks.

"You should have shot him when you had the chance." The first speaker said.

"You mean killed him?" the Rocket hissed and went over his trimmed head with his hand as if to put his hair back, "are you forgetting who we are talking about?"

"Listen," the blonde interrupted, "I know what he did to you, Marc, but we can't just shoot him."

"Well, I could!" Marc responded.

"You better hope the boss doesn't hear about that."

"I thought I could count on you to take care of him, but you let him go."

"Take care of him?" the trimmed Rocket reacted, "listen you're a good friend, and he almost go you arrested, but don't you think that killing him for that is a bit over the top?"

"Not really." Marc said and brought his glass to his mouth to take a sip.

"No more." The blonde Rocket took his glass away.

"Hey!"

"He's right, you've had enough. It's fucking morning, you shouldn't be drinking now!" he looked at his glass and put it back on the table, "come to think of it, neither should I."

"Anyway," the blonde Rocket concluded, "it's over."

"No, it's not." Marc muttered under his breath.

! 

Okay, good news is, I won about twenty bucks on the slots. Bad news? I lost seventy. Oh well, you win some, you lose a lot, who cares? I decided to move on and was momentarily distracted by a woman in a way too short skirt and got knocked on the ground by some guys who came out of a bar.

"Can't you look out?" I started as I got up and froze.

"Fuck!"

The two Rockets grabbed me, pulled me in some alley and pinned me against the wall.

"Kill him," a third guy who I never saw before hissed.

Wait a minute, I did see him before…

"We can't kill him, you idiot," the blonde responded, "we got to take him to the boss…"

"No, he's dangerous." The guy insisted.

"I know you…" my mind raced, "you're Marc, aren't you…"

The guy suddenly paled.

"I thought you had lost your memory?" the trimmed Rocket frowned.

"I did, but… we met on the boat… there was gonna be something big and we decided to have some fun…"

It was coming back, but not fast enough.

"Kill him! Now!"

Marc seemed slightly more nervous. I had heard him before like this, but when? Ah, yes…

"That girl… this girl came to us and I took her to my room…"

That wasn't the only thing…

"and the day after that… the big thing…" I felt the grip of the two Rockets lessen but I didn't think of escaping, I suddenly didn't see the need anymore for some reason, "we were gonna pull it off, we had pulled it off when bozo here pulled the alarm and left me to dry!"

Three pair of angry eyes looked at Marc who tried to slither away. The two Rockets grabbed him and pushed him against the wall.

"Well, this is interesting." The blonde guy said.

"You little asshole left me behind," I raged on, "if it wasn't for my quick thinking, I would have been arrested. And when I got safe to my quarters, you pushed me over the railing!"

Marc squirmed and squeaked, but the two Rockets kept him firmly on his place.

"Why did you do it, Marc?" the blonde guy asked, "we were buds."

"That girl would have been mine, if it wasn't for him."

"This was about a woman?" the trimmed one frowned.

He sighed, shook his head and clocked Marc. The poor guy fell unconscious.

"All this trouble because I got some and he didn't." I shook my head.

Suddenly it hit me. My memory! It was starting to come back. Sure I could only remember the time on the ship but this was a start! Hey, wait a minute, if we were on the ship together, and we had something big planned, and I had almost gotten arrested, and he was a Rocket…

"I'm a Rocket?"

"Oh, you're more than that…" the blonde guy seemed to apologise.

! 

Somewhere else, shortly afterwards, a phone rang.

"Hello?"

"He seems to be back," a woman said on the other side, "he's on his way to the warehouse."

"Are you sure he remembers?"

"If he doesn't, he'll know soon enough."

"Dear lord. We have to be there."

"I can get us a chopper so we can be there in half an hour."

! 

The two Rockets dragged Marc to a warehouse just outside Celadon. They looked at each other, not certain what they were to do and then looked at me. They seemed to reach a conclusion and opened the door. We stepped in and even in the dark I could tell there were a lot of animals here. One of them turned the lights on and revealed long rows of caged pokémon. A huge Persian, who was the only one that wasn't locked up, raised it's head when I came in and came running towards me.

"Wha…what is this place?" I asked as the Persian circled my feet.

I couldn't believe what I saw, who would do this?

"This is why I couldn't believe you had any pokémon."

"What do you mean?"

"These are yours."

"Come again?"

! 

"Okay, let's go over this one step at a time," I tried to focus, "I'm a Rocket and these are my pokémon?"

"You're name is Anthony Vermoné, son of Giovanni Vermoné, the head of Team Rocket."

"O-kay, and these pokémon?"

"Since you weren't really interested in pokémon or the organisation, Giovanni gave you these pokémon."

"And you let them in these cages?" I yelled, "What animal would do this?"

"Uhm, you."

! 

I looked around and saw all kinds of pokémon trapped in cages that were obviously too small.

"I did this?"

……..

……..

……..

! 

"Are you even listening?" one of the Rockets frowned and waved is hand in front of Tony.

"He zoned out?" the other Rocket asked.

"I think he did, but just in case… Tony, as I was saying, you're Giovanni's son and these pokémon were given to you, but since you didn't care about pokémon you just put them here in cages. The only exception was this Persian here because… well, you know how Giovanni feels about Persians… well, maybe you don't but he thinks a Persian is the most noble pokémon there is, and if he found out you put it in a cage, he wouldn't even care you're his son."

! 

……..

……..

……..

……..

! 

The chopper landed nearby the warehouse and several men jumped out, readying guns. They ran towards the warehouse and kicked the door in.

"FREEZE! POLICE!" Susan Jenny shouted as she waved her gun around, "nobody moves, nobody gets hurt."

The two Rockets and Marc put their hands in the air while Tony was still looking in the direction of the cages. Professor Oak made his way through the cops to see what was going on inside.

"Oh dear," he gasped, "who would do something like this? Tony? Are you okay?"

! 

……..

……..

……..

……..

! 

"Tony?"

"He zoned out." One of the Rockets said.

Oak looked around at the caged pokémon and shook his head.

"I believe I would too. This is… this is horrible."

"How exactly do you know he was here?" one of the Rockets suddenly asked.

"Excuse me?" Susan asked.

"Well, if this was a routine bust, you wouldn't have brought somebody important but otherwise fucking useless along," the Rocket nodded towards Oak, "I mean useless in this operation, of course," he seemed to apologize.

"Yes, of course." Oak responded in an understanding tone.

"That's not…" Susan started.

"And just before we wanted to call the cops in Vermillion," the other Rocket continued, "when Tony was captured by those guys from the Dark Squad, they came running in heavily armed as well. This isn't a coincidence anymore."

"Look here…" Susan tried to retain her posture.

"When Tony was arrested in Pewter, they found out who he was, but decided to release him and to bug him. I put a bug in his pokédex so we could follow him and react if he was in any trouble."

Tony seemed to blink and slowly turned around.

! 

……..

……..

……..

! 

"So," Tony slowly said, so soft he was almost whispering, "you knew?"

"The thing is a bit more…" Susan tried again.

"You knew and you didn't tell me?" Tony continued, raising his voice, "you knew and you didn't tell me! "ooh, what fun it might be not to tell him about his past but let him crawl around in the dark to finish him off by letting him find out he hates pokémon" I can't believe you did this!"

"Well, I don't think she put it like that…" Oak frowned.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I FUCKING TRUSTED YOU AND YOU LIED TO ME! ALL OF YOU! All this time I was hoping, practically fantasising, I was this big important guy who helped people and fought crime like some retarded superhero but actually I'm the bad guy! I'M THE FUCKING BAD GUY! AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!"

"Oh you're right!" Susan blurted out, "we should have told you! "hey Tony, so you don't know who you are huh? Well, you're father is the largest crime boss in the country, here are you handcuffs", yeah, like you would have thought that was fair!"

"At least it's better than this." Tony hissed.

He turned around and looked at the caged pokémon.

! 

……..

……..

……..

! 

"Well," he seemed to reach a conclusion, "you know what happens to the bad guys, don't you. They go out with a bang. And since they don't come any badder than me."

Tony jumped to a nearby toolbox and pulled out a crowbar. Before anyone could react he smashed a cage open and released a Koffing. The Koffing became scared and filled the room with thick black smoke.

"NOBODY SHOOT!" Susan shouted.

When the smoke cleared, most of the cages were broken open and pokémon wandered around, not knowing what to do. Tony and the two Rockets had disappeared in the confusion.

Susan cursed, grabbed her gun and pulled Marc to his feet to throw him against the wall.

"At least this thing isn't a total bust," she hissed, "okay, you little fucker, you're under arrest, and you better give me what I want, or I'll make you're life a living hell."

! 

Oak looked at the empty spot where he had seen Tony's bike. He couldn't help himself but smile as Susan cursed at the poor Rocket they had caught. He would have no doubt his hands full at all the pokémon they released from the cages but that wasn't in his mind for the moment.

"Good luck on your journeys," he softly said, "Tony Hunter."


	20. Disappeared

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

20 – Disappeared

A dark blue car stopped in Pallet, just before professor Oak's house. A woman stepped out and walked to the door. After she rang the bell, professor Oak opened.

"Ah, officer Jenny," he greeted the police woman, "how may I help you?"

"Have you heard any news of Tony yet?" she asked.

"No, I haven't," Oak sighed, "after last week at the warehouse, I haven't seen him any more. I don't even know if we'll ever see him again. All the pokémon he had caught are transferred to the computer, meaning he has no pokémon with him. They are all here."

"Every one of them?"

"Well, only his wartortle and his blastoise are still with him. But he came with them before he even had any pokéballs."

"Can you check where they are? Or if he still has them?"

"No I can't. Otherwise it wouldn't have been necessary to bug his pokédex. And I don't know if he still has them. It might be he returned to those islands and set them free."

Jenny thought about this for a moment.

"He did reacted strongly when he saw those caged pokémon…" Oak reminded her.

That was true. Ever since he had lost his memory, he couldn't stand hurt pokémon, maybe as an attempt to make up for his past. Well, that was feed for a psychiatrist, not her.

"Thank you for your time, let me know when you hear something of him, or when something happens to his pokémon."

Jenny turned and stepped in her car. As the car drove off, Oak couldn't help himself wondering if the interest of Jenny in Tony was purely professional or if she wanted to apologise to him.

"Officer Jenny, hi!"

Jenny slightly cringed as Allan greeted her. She remembered the first time they met.

"Allan, have you seen Tony lately?"

"No, why? Is something…"

"Thank you, that is all."

Just outside Cerulean, officer Jenny's car stopped. She stepped out of the car and looked at the nearby sign. Jenny sighed and started walking down the trail. After a few minutes, she stopped at a small cabin. She knocked on the door and sighed again.

"What do you want?" she heard after a while.

She looked around and saw a blonde man leaning over the fence of his huge garden.

"I'm officer Jenny from Pewter," she said as she flashed her badge, "I would like to ask you a few questions."

The young man seemed to think as he looked her up and down and then reached a conclusion.

"Yeah, wait up, I'll let you in."

Alex let officer Jenny in and led her to the garden.

"I'm sorry, but I'm in the middle of something," he apologized, "will this take long?"

"No," Jenny shook her head, "I just have some questions to ask."

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, this has nothing to do with you."

"Good."

Jenny looked around and saw several pokémon run around the garden.

"So, you're a pokémon breeder, huh?"

"That's what it says on the sign," Alex grinned, "I've just started, to tell you the truth, but I've already had a lot of good response."

He kneeled down next to the pond to take a starmie out of the water. A magikarp surfaced and seemed to blink at him. Alex grinned and threw him some bread.

"Why? Do you want me to breed pokémon for the police?" he asked with a smile.

"Do you know a man called Tony Hunter?" Jenny asked.

"I met him about a week ago," Alex shrugged, "haven't seen him since. Why? Did he do something wrong?"

"That's the only time you've seen him?"

"Yep," Alex laid the starmie on a blanket and scratched the head of a meowth, "sure would like some news of him though. He promised me a ditto when he came."

"But he hasn't contacted you since?"

"No, sorry. Why do you need him for?"

"That's police business," Jenny said, "thank you for you cooperation, I'll let myself out."

Jenny stepped in her car and drove back to Pewter. She thought of filing the case, since, with Tony gone, there was no more case. She had tried every lead she thought she had, but all came to a dead end. Tony had disappeared and no one knew his whereabouts.

This was it, end of story. No more Tony Hunter…

AN: There you have it, the end of Hunter. I hope you liked it, I know I did when I wrote it. I admit, there were some bumps on the road, which is one of the reasons why I probably won't write a sequel. I have some good ideas for a sequel (like the origin of Mr. Fuji's videotapes), but no real plotline. So until I can think up enough ideas to fake a plotline or I can come up with a serious plot, this is the end. Suggestions however are always welcome. Take care and treat pokémon nicely or Tony's gonna come and beat the living shit out of you, and you don't want that (or maybe you do, I don't know what kind of pervert you are).

_Additional AN: As you might have guessed, the previous AN was the original one for this story. I HAVE started on a sequel (and HAVE included the origin of Mr. Fuji's videotapes), although plotline wise there are still a few bumps on the road, but strangely enough, they smooth themselves out along the way. I don't have as much time as I would like to spend on Hunter 2 (as I'm busy with work, other projects, and just goofing off) but when I write, it's fucking gold!_

_Okay, I'm just saying it's gold so you would read it, but still, it's good._

_Go read already!  
_

i

i

i

i

i

i

i

i

i

Epilogue:

Alex petted his magikarp on the head and then patted the soil next to him. The magikarp jumped out of the water and splashed apart on the ground. Slowly he oozed back together to a ditto. Suddenly a gyarados emerged from the pond and brought his head closer to Alex.

"Be nice, Smaug." Alex scratched the huge dragon under his chin.

He turned around and entered the house. Inside a pikachu was trying to fight a chair and Alex decided to charge Allan double. He walked to a cabinet and picked up a card.

_Here's your ditto_

_Sorry it took so long_

_Would really appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone_

_Remember our agreement_

_T.H._

The front of the card showed the Goldenrod radio tower. Alex grinned and shook his head as he put the card back.

"Tony, what the fuck are you doing in Johto?"


End file.
